K Subrahmanyam, 82, widely regarded as India’s foremost thinker on strategic policy, passed away this morning at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences here, after a prolonged illness.
He is survived by his wife, Sulochana, a Tamil scholar, and three sons, S Vijay Kumar (secretary, mines, Govt of India), S Jaishankar (India’s ambassador to China) and Sanjay Subrahmanyam (a distinguished historian).
Dubbed the ‘Bhishmapithamaha’ of Indian strategic policy, Subrahmanyam was the principal author of India’s nuclear doctrine, prepared under his guidance by the National Security Advisory Board of India, of which he was the first convenor from 1998 to 2001. He was the architect of India’s ‘No first use’ doctrine and strongly backed the India-US civil nuclear energy agreement. He repeatedly declined a Padma Bhushan, offered to him by successive governments.
A master’s in chemistry from Chennai’s Presidency College, Subrahmanyam topped the Indian Administrative Service exam and joined the civil service in 1951. He held several sensitive positions in the Union government, including chairman, joint intelligence committee and secretary, defence production. He was also home secretary of Tamil Nadu.
Subrahmanyam rose to prominence, however, as the man who built India’s first and foremost defence policy think tank, the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), of which he was director from 1966 to 1975 and again from 1980 to 1989. He was a Rockefeller Fellow in strategic studies at the London School of Economics in 1966 and Nehru Fellow at St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1987.
His close association with India’s nuclear programme and strategic policy began in his early days in service, in the 1950s. He worked closely with Homi Bhabha, Raja Ramanna, V S Arunachalam and all the leaders of India’s nuclear and missile programme, and with every one of India’s prime ministers, beginning with Jawaharlal Nehru.
At the IDSA’s recent 40th anniversary celebrations, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had paid tribute to his leadership, saying, “Subrahmanyam’s incisive writings continue to stimulate and contribute to the thinking of strategic analysis and policy making ..... We look forward to many more years of active contribution from this doyen of the strategic community in India.”
Subrahmanyam was a thinker, a strategist, a visionary and above all a guru to several generations of the Indian strategic policy community. He virtually built the community of scholars on these issues, by bringing into its fold experts from various disciplines, from different professional backgrounds and by seeking a wider constituency of support for his views through a sustained media presence.
After retirement from government service, he became consulting strategic affairs editor to the Business and Political Observer, and later The Times of India. He wrote regular columns in several newspapers, including Business Standard.
It was his idea for a Jammu & Kashmir Roundtable, that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh convened, aimed at creating domestic political opinion in J&K in support of the PM’s dialogue process with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in 2005.
He chaired several official committees, the most prominent of these being the Kargil Review Committee (that enquired into the causes and conduct of the Kargil war), the Indian National Defence University (INDU) Committee (that recommended creation of INDU) and a task force on global strategic developments (that provided the strategic framework for the India-US civil nuclear energy cooperation agreement).
He wrote several books and lectured around the world to important audiences, that came to recognise him as the authentic voice of a rising India. He was also a strong advocate of electoral and political reform, advocating proportional representation. IDSA, the institution he built, honoured him by instituting an annual K Subrahmanyam Award for the best published research paper.
PM condoles with family
Striking a personal note, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh wrote a letter to K Subrahmanyam’s family, describing him as one of the country’s leading security experts and strategists. The PM said beginning with his work in the ministry of defence in the early 1960s, Subrahmanyam’s distinguished career spanned many decades as a civil servant, one who maintained the highest traditions of the bureaucracy through his honesty, dedication and exceptional abilities.
The PM said Subrahmanyam’s work outside the government was perhaps even more impressive. He had spearheaded and developed the field of defence studies in the country, especially in the establishment of the Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis, a premier think tank in the field. The PM mentioned his other writings: on India’s nuclear posture, India-Pakistan relations, intelligence matters, disarmament and the issues of regional and global strategic importance. He said Subrahmanyam’s work as head of the Kargil Review Committee was widely recognised both inside the government and outside it.
“In the passing away of Shri Subrahmanyam, the country has lost an outstanding public servant, visionary and thinker, who will be missed by the generations of bureaucrats, academics and writers who were inspired and influenced by his thoughts,” the PM said.
