Krishna Rao, K
In recent years, a quiet but disquieting tension has begun to shadow India’s civil-military landscape. The Indian Armed Forces, long regarded as an apolitical, professional institution, are increasingly finding themselves drawn into political, ideological, and even communal narratives. Simultaneously, core institutional concerns of soldiers, sailors, and airmen – Non-Functional Upgradation (NFU), stalled promotions, pension anxieties, disability benefits, lateral absorption, and post-service uncertainty – remain unresolved or dismissed.
This divergence between political appropriation and institutional neglect raises a provocative question: Are we unknowingly paving the road toward a military rupture – perhaps not a coup, but something more complex, and potentially more dangerous?
The Politicization Paradox
Across public events, political campaigns, and media rhetoric, the Armed Forces have become a central motif of nationalism. Surgical strikes, airstrikes, uniformed imagery, and even religious narratives are now frequently leveraged to consolidate political capital. In a democracy, civilian governments are entitled to celebrate military achievements, but there is a crucial difference between honouring the Forces and using them as political currency.
The danger lies not in rhetoric alone, but in the slow erosion of the Forces’ institutional autonomy. Senior military leadership being drawn into public political discourse, selective amplification of militaristic narratives, and the blending of national security with majoritarian sentiment risk recasting the military’s identity from a constitutional instrument to a political symbol.
For a force built on neutrality, this is a tectonic shift.
Meanwhile, Inside the Barracks
While the Armed Forces are projected as the nation’s pride, their personnel are simultaneously battling unresolved grievances:
– NFU denial to officers, even as other elite services enjoy it.
– Promotional stagnation due to structural bottlenecks.
– Pension restructuring controversies, especially post-OROP.
– Diminished career security, with shorter tenures and limited lateral absorption.
– Rising operational stress, suicides, and mental health concerns.
The troubling message being received by many servicemen and veterans is this: your image matters more than your welfare.
No professional force, however disciplined, is immune to the cumulative impact of systemic neglect.
Could India Face a Military Coup?
Let’s be clear. A coup in India remains extraordinarily unlikely. The institutional, cultural, and constitutional DNA of the Indian military is deeply anti-political. Its chain of command, recruitment diversity, federal structure, and historical ethos, all point firmly away from the seizure of power.
Unlike many nations that have suffered coups, India possesses:
– Strong electoral legitimacy
– A robust civilian bureaucracy
– Diffused military command structures
– Constitutional safeguards
– A deeply ingrained culture of military restraint
The Indian military has never attempted to challenge civilian supremacy – not even during the Emergency, not during political turmoil of the 1990s, not during the Kargil War, and not amid repeated insurgencies. That legacy cannot be dismissed.
So no, a classic coup is not the scenario India should fear.
The Real Risk: A Slow Civil-Military Fracture
What is far more plausible, and far more dangerous, is a creeping institutional estrangement. This could manifest in several ways:
– Erosion of Morale and Motivation: When symbolism replaces welfare, loyalty becomes brittle.
– Politically Aligned Factions: Even subtle ideological segmentation within the Forces would be corrosive.
– Veterans as Political Weapons: Veterans’ organizations could drift into partisan activism, reshaping public sentiment.
– Operational Hesitancy: A force that feels exploited may hesitate, question intent, or lose trust.
– Institutional Pushback: Not a coup, but a hardened, transactional civil-military relationship lacking mutual respect.
– Military destabilization today is rarely about tanks rolling into the capital. It’s about silence, cynicism, and disengagement.
A Coup Is Dramatic. Decay Is Quiet
The most dangerous outcome is not seizure of power, but a hollowing out of military professionalism. A force that is politicized at the top and disillusioned at the bottom risks losing the very quality that made it exceptional: unity of purpose.
Nations don’t crumble because armies revolt. They crumble because armies lose faith.
The Path Forward
Three urgent corrections are essential:
– Depoliticize the Uniform: The military must remain a constitutional tool, never a campaign instrument or cultural symbol.
– Address Institutional Welfare, Not Optics: Resolve NFU, promotions, pensions, and mental health with seriousness, not slogans.
– Reinforce Civil-Military Trust: Open dialogue, parliamentary oversight, and transparent grievance mechanisms are non-negotiable.
A strong military is not built on applause. It is built on dignity, respect, and justice.
The Final Question
India stands at a fork in the road. One path leads to a mature, modern civil-military equilibrium. The other leads to a brittle nation where the Forces feel used, unheard, and ideologically fragmented.
We are not headed toward a coup.
But if we continue on the current trajectory, we may be headed toward something subtler, slower, and ultimately more destabilizing, a future where the Armed Forces are politically glorified, institutionally neglected, and emotionally alienated.
And history shows: that is how nations sleepwalk into crises they never saw coming.
(The views expressed above are the author’s own as a former BSF officer who commanded operational units, crafted intelligence.)