General Brasstacks

The Sundarji Story

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In 1986, as Indian and Chinese troops faced off in Sumdorong Chu in Arunachal Pradesh, an Indian general airlifted a brigade to occupy dominating heights, putting pressure on the Chinese below. The audacious General Krishnaswamy Sundarji swung the momentum decisively in India’s favour, forcing the Chinese to back-pedal in the Himalayas.

The following year, the same army chief planned Operation Brasstacks, one of the largest military exercises since World War II. The move threatened Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions, unnerving General
Zia-ul-Haq and prompting him to seek rapprochement.

The 1980s were a decade of dramatic turns: events that led to the assassinations of two Indian prime ministers, political upheaval and military crises. General Sundarji oversaw two of the most controversial operations in independent India: Operation Blue Star, against Sikh militants inside the Golden Temple, and Operation Pawan, against Tamil militants in Sri Lanka. He was also drawn into the Bofors acquisition and the scandal that followed, which helped bring down a government.

But who was Krishnaswamy Sundarji? How did his penchant for bold, sometimes brash decisions take shape? Was he too ambitious? Was he ahead of his time in pushing for technology-driven warfare, or behind it as insurgencies demanded a more improvised approach?

This definitive biography by bestselling author Probal Dasgupta traces the life and times of one of India’s most charismatic yet forgotten army chiefs. Sundarji’s career mirrored the journey of a young nation, often echoing its political choices and contradictions. The only general to have influenced both military and political thinking in India’s democracy, his brisk 820-day tenure saw the army through modernization, crises, controversies and change. This book explores Sundarji’s central role in shaping the modern Indian Army and his influence during the turbulent 1980s.