Watch | Rajnath Singh’s NFU Statement Contradicts India’s Conventional Military Strategy

Happymon Jacob analyses defence minister Rajnath Singh’s statement on ‘no first use’ in light of India’s military strategy vis-à-vis Pakistan over the past two decades.

He argues that ever since the parliament attacks of 2001, the Indian military had been trying to carve out a space for conventional warfare with Pakistan, well within and below the nuclear threshold or threat of use of tactical nuclear weapons by Pakistan. He argues that the Balakot airstrikes, in response to Pulwama, accomplished and established exactly this room for conventional warfare with Pakistan.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh’s statement, if it leads to India abandoning NFU, will undo these gains and insert instability into the dyad.

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