In believing there would be no war, Modi made a 'Nehruvian half-blunder'

Modi assumed Chinese won't be a military threat and risk their economic interests, so defence spending could wait. He was only half right

As we anxiously watch Eastern Ladakh, a tough truth needs to be stated — in the first five years of his rule, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strategic blunder of Nehruvian proportions. Then we will also argue why, somewhat unlike Nehru’s in 1955-62, it was half a blunder.

We are making a reasoned presumption that when he took over in the summer of 2014 with a full majority, Mr Modi was confident there was going to be no war in his tenure. In any case, the era of big wars between nations was over.

We are not sure if