The Man @ Work

Rajnath Singh has taken political ownership of the Ministry of Defence like few of his predecessors did; such factor was on full display during the handover ceremony of Rafale in France on October 8, where he led the Indian contingent from the front.

- Vishal Thapar

It’s been less than five months since Rajnath Singh took over as India’s Defence Minister. But from Day One, he has taken steps that coherently convey the direction and emphasis of his Ministership.

His first step, the day after he took over political leadership of one of the largest militaries of the world, was to visit Siachen, the world’s highest battlefield, where the continuous deployment of the Indian Army since 1984 has become a symbol both of India’s resolve, and also the supreme effort made by soldiers to uphold India’s sovereignty against all odds.

The message of the Siachen visit at the start of his tenure was that those who occupy the highest office in the land stood by the foot soldier. Rajnath Singh is not the first Defence Minister to visit Siachen to show support for valiant efforts to defend India in the most inhospitable conditions. What sets him apart is the open declaration of intention to give a free hand to the military to respond to security challenges. This puts him in perfect alignment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s instinct to use hard power when pushed into a corner.

After his Siachen visit, Rajnath Singh made his next splash with the public declaration that India’s Nuclear Weapons Policy of No First Use was not cast in stone. Seen in the context of the frequent nuclear saber-rattling by Pakistan in order to firewall itself from conventional military retaliation by India for openly waging a proxy war in Kashmir, this was an important statement that India would not be deterred by traditional positions and postures nor held back by nuclear blackmail. More importantly, it conveyed an end to India’s culture of hesitation in wielding its most destructive weapons and its willingness to use these in a situation that threatened its survival.