Parliament was stalled in the Budget session as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refused to answer questions over its conduct on the border in 2020. The opposition demanded an explanation from Prime Minister Modi and defence minister Rajnath Singh on former Army chief Gen M.M. Naravane’s revelations in his memoirs on how vital decisions are made (and not made) by this government.As explained in The Caravan magazine’s recent cover story, as Indian soldiers confronted Chinese tanks advancing in August 2020, just weeks after India had lost 20 men on its eastern border in Galwan, Modi’s answer to a frazzled army chief – as conveyed by RM (Raksha Mantri) Rajnath Singh was, “jo uchit samjho wo karo” (‘Do whatever you think is appropriate’). Gen Naravane writes in his now suppressed book, Four Stars of Destiny, that this response, conveyed many hours after he urgently asked the political command for orders, left him feeling abandoned. The prime minister had ended up abdicating the responsibility of initiating, or avoiding, a military conflict with China.Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty.The Army chief had to take recourse to hurriedly doing things which no armed forces chief must do in a functional democracy, scratch his head for what might be the best course for India – to hit back, risking a wider conflict or just swallow what was being thrust down the country’s throat by an assertive, larger neighbour.India is not Pakistan or a military dictatorship. It is not the army chief’s role to evaluate India’s political and economic situation, assess potential international diplomatic backing, factor in the COVID-19 crisis, or calculate the risk of Pakistan and China combining forces. That is why a government is elected to office. Political instructions to the military on such matters must be precise and clear, not a vague indication to act as per one’s discretion.Wars, skirmishes and ‘air strikes’, all have real-world consequences, which is why elected leaders do not outsource such decisions to generals. Is the United States getting it wrong with its illegal war on Iran – including the assassination of the Iranian Supreme Leader? There is no doubt that Trump’s decision will prove damaging and even catastrophic to his own country – just as George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003 was. To quote Chinese scholar Wang Dong, the US invasion of Iraq was a “turning point” in shaping the future of the world: “It drained US resources, eroded its moral authority, and diverted its strategic focus, creating a relatively permissive external environment for China’s development. It also deepened global scepticism about unilateral military intervention.”In the present conflict, it is clear that President Donald Trump and his team, War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are directly accountable for choices that the US is making. They are answering questions, as they must and take responsibility. This highlights a basic premise of democracy – that a government owes its people an explanation for its choices. Citizens have a right to know what is happening on India’s borders. With parliament set to reconvene, the Modi government must immediately explain why it said “jo uchit samjho wo karo”.War is serious and as it is underlining in real time, beyond the immediate heart-breaking crises and individual tragedies, it decides for years and generations, how larger geopolitics will unfold. Will the government of India at least now get why it must disclose all that happened six years ago and how it made decisions during all the crises on its watch – the 2020 India-China border crisis, the standoff in Doklam in 2017 and all other unilateral actions on its western border?Parliamentary questions on national security have been often blacked out. MPs have been suspended for demanding answers and accountability on vital questions relating to defence preparedness. There have been no structured briefings on how the crisis on the eastern border has unfolded. Instead, there is currently a case for “criminal conspiracy” being investigated by the Delhi police in the Naravane matter. Legitimate questions being asked of it are being turned into a whodunit of where people got the book from and whether the book was ‘published’ or not.The Indian military command being told at a time of crisis by the top political leadership that “Jo uchit samjho who karo” is a matter of political abdication, some might say, even cowardice. Particularly, as the BJP claims its calling card is ‘national security’.All governments in any reasonably functional democracy are accountable to their people, in peace and also, in war. It is patriotic to ask for accountability and unpatriotic to deny information.The ongoing war in the region has spotlit why Modi and his cabinet need to come clean and answer the people via Parliament as it regroups on March 9 on how it has made important decisions having a bearing on India’s status, stature and position in these turbulent times. It is only uchit that it braces up and answers. A strategic blackout will only leave India weaker and further diminish its democracy.This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.