In Securing India the Modi Way: Pathankot, Surgical Strikes and More, Nitin A. Gokhale provides the most intimate and sweeping account yet of Team Narendra Modi's approach to national security and foreign policy initiatives. Drawing on internal memos, as yet classified information, meeting notes and hundreds of hours of interviews with key players in the national security team, Gokhale brings alive inside stories of policy formulation at the highest levels in the government.
Painstakingly researched, the book details hitherto unknown aspects of the planning and execution of the surgical strikes, revamping of New Delhi's policy towards China and Pakistan, India's renewed outreach to the Middle East, Prime Minister Modi's attempt to leverage the Indian Diaspora worldwide and his attention to smallest of details besides focusing on some small but far-reaching steps taken to secure India in every possible way-on land, in space, cyber and maritime domains.
The book in many ways is the first authentic account of the Modi government's decision making process on vital issues.
After working for 32 years as a media practitioner across print, web and broadcast mediums, during which he reported on India's North-East, focusing on the different insurgencies there, the 1999 Kargil conflict between India and Pakistan and the Sri Lankan Eelam War IV to name a few, he is now a full-time author and part-time media entrepreneur since December 2014.
Author of five books so far on insurgencies, wars and conflicts, he is visiting faculty at all Indian Defense training institutions like the National Defense College, all the three war colleges, the College of Defense Management and the Defense Services Staff College, besides being a popular speaker at various seminars and symposiums on civil-military relations, insurgency/terrorism, Asian security Affairs and military-media relations. His previous books include Beyond NJ 9842: The Siachen Saga, 1965 Turning the Tide: How India won the War and Sri Lanka: From War to Peace. Gokhale also appears on News Channels as a commentator and writes regular columns for various publications besides hosting a television show-India First-for national broadcaster, Doordarshan.
The Prime Minister's decision to personally reach out to the world and re-energies India's foreign policy approach is by now well known. India's rising global stature is a result of his vision and his government's initiatives. This book documents in detail some of the fundamental changes that are being ushered in by the Prime Minister, his government's efforts to, strengthen our military, and the role of our armed forces and intelligence agencies in making India secure.
I have personally benefitted from Gokhale's insights and his long experience as a journalist covering matters of national security. I am confident that this book, written using simple and easy to understand language, will be useful to both military enthusiasts and common citizens alike.
While the officer did not go away entirely convinced, my exchange with him had me thinking. On the return flight to Delhi, I tried to recall what I exactly knew about many of the recent actions that had been taken by the military and other security forces; or for that matter how decision-making evolves, for example, at the Prime Minister's level or in the top echelons of the government. As I scribbled some points, realization dawned: I may have known enough to write a quick news story or a longer analysis, but clearly, the details have always been elusive with respect to crucial events in the realm of national security.
I wondered how easy or hard it would be then to attempt to write a book on the insider accounts of some of the key decisions that the Indian government has taken in the recent past. As I began inquiring into unknown details-and more importantly authentic accounts-it was clear the task was easier imagined than achieved. By mid-February, however, the idea to write a book had firmly taken root in my mind.
Starting in an ascending order, some of the preliminary information was gathered; old notes were reviewed, and some documentaries were revisited, but I was still struggling to put a finger on the time period on which I wanted to concentrate. Therefore, choosing a time period was the first step. As the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government was about to complete three years in May 2017, a spate of books were hitting the stores, focused on Prime Minister Modi and the BJP and their seemingly unstoppable streak in winning elections.
None of them, however, looked thoroughly at one particular domain, the one that I am familiar with: Security and strategic affairs.
It was at the point when the central idea of the book-unveiling the three years of the Modi government's security policies-family crystallized in my mind. I was aware of some of the path-breaking policy initiatives that the defense ministry had come up with and the bold decisions that the Prime Minister had taken, but the details were missing. For instance, what was outside the purview of public knowledge was the reasons that had led to the decision to authorize surgical strikes, or what had driven India's new found resolve in tackling China.
The first task therefore was to make a list of possible events to concentrate on and then look for information regarding them. The content and the time period were set. Now came the hard part.
Extracting information in the domain that I work in, that is security and strategic affairs, is anyway a difficult task, but to get people to talk about what normally remains secret was doubly difficult. That's when old associations and friendships came in handy. Once, bits and pieces of information started trickling in, authenticating and fleshing out bare minimum facts was the next step. Slowly, the chapters started taking shape. In most other sectors, people would have gladly spoken about their role and contribution, but those in uniform and in the secretive world of intelligence have an inherent resistance towards sharing even innocuous information.
Book's Contents and Sample Pages
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