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The Silent Coup: A History of India's Deep State
‘They were not expected to behave like the terrorists they were hunting. Even in the thickest fog of war, the law-abider and the law-breaker must be distinguished.’
India is justly proud of a parliamentary democracy that has never been threatened by a military coup. No mean feat in a neighbourhood where coups are common and notions of constitutionality shaky. However, for decades now, India’s democratic standing has been steadily declining. An international analysis recently rated the country as only ‘partly free’, while another deemed it an ‘electoral autocracy’.
Josy Joseph investigates this decline and comes away with a key that the process of confronting militancy has warped the system. As insurgencies erupted across India, and grew increasingly more sophisticated in the 1980s and ’90s, the security establishment struggled to keep up. Increasingly overwhelmed, the police forces, intelligence agencies, federal investigation agencies, tax departments and the like came up with ingenious—at times sinister— from faking and framing evidence to staging massive terror attacks and even creating terrorist organisations. Over time, militancy became a flourishing, multi-faceted business enterprise.
From the Kashmiri militancy to the Sri Lankan civil war, from the attack on Mumbai to the long-term unrest in the Northeast, India’s ‘war on terror’ has made its security institutions more nationalistic and chauvinistic and, inevitably, more corrupt. Most dangerously, there is a near-complete capture of the security apparatus, whether investigative agencies, police or intelligence, by the political executive—serving as stormtroopers with no accountability, rather than as defenders of the Constitution.
The result of more than two decades of reporting on insurgencies, terrorism and the security establishment, The Silent Coup is a wake-up call to the nation. You do not need a military coup to subvert democracy, Joseph says—in India, it has already been subverted.
India is justly proud of a parliamentary democracy that has never been threatened by a military coup. No mean feat in a neighbourhood where coups are common and notions of constitutionality shaky. However, for decades now, India’s democratic standing has been steadily declining. An international analysis recently rated the country as only ‘partly free’, while another deemed it an ‘electoral autocracy’.
Josy Joseph investigates this decline and comes away with a key that the process of confronting militancy has warped the system. As insurgencies erupted across India, and grew increasingly more sophisticated in the 1980s and ’90s, the security establishment struggled to keep up. Increasingly overwhelmed, the police forces, intelligence agencies, federal investigation agencies, tax departments and the like came up with ingenious—at times sinister— from faking and framing evidence to staging massive terror attacks and even creating terrorist organisations. Over time, militancy became a flourishing, multi-faceted business enterprise.
From the Kashmiri militancy to the Sri Lankan civil war, from the attack on Mumbai to the long-term unrest in the Northeast, India’s ‘war on terror’ has made its security institutions more nationalistic and chauvinistic and, inevitably, more corrupt. Most dangerously, there is a near-complete capture of the security apparatus, whether investigative agencies, police or intelligence, by the political executive—serving as stormtroopers with no accountability, rather than as defenders of the Constitution.
The result of more than two decades of reporting on insurgencies, terrorism and the security establishment, The Silent Coup is a wake-up call to the nation. You do not need a military coup to subvert democracy, Joseph says—in India, it has already been subverted.
306 pages, Hardcover
First published August 23, 2021
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October 1, 2021
When you are under a fascist Government which is adept at setting and changing narratives, you get bombarded with one major jolt after the next, that induces a level of disorientation and forgetfulness. So, once in a while, we need that piece of writing which would help us zoom out a bit, make sense of all that has been happening, and probably also get an idea about all that is happening behind the scenes, where the deep state has been at work relentlessly over the decades.
In his second book 'The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State', after the the acclaimed 'A Feast of the Vultures', which laid bare many unknown stories of corruption at the highest levels, Josy Joseph trains his focus on the non-military arm of the security establishment, consisting of the CBI, the NIA, the Intelligence Bureau, the anti-terror squads and other agencies. It is well worth remembering that Indira Gandhi and her coterie ran India during the emergency using some of these agencies, but even she would not have imagined the levels to which these agencies would be used in the later decades, especially in the current times we are living through.
Joseph pegs the earlier portions of the book around the story of Wahid, a Mumbai-based school teacher, who was randomly picked up one day by the agencies, accusing him of engineering a terror attack. It was the beginning of an ordeal as he was arrested and tortured multiple times based on fabricated charges in various cases including the Mumbai train blasts of 2006. Although free now, he is now working to free the 12 wrongly convicted in the same case. Joseph points to the low representation of Muslims in IPS and paramilitary (Not a single Muslim in senior positions in the RAW), deep-rooted and systemic anti-Muslim bias and the sheer inability to crack down on the actual terrorists for this hunt of innocent Muslims.
Drawing on his years of experience of covering these agencies, he writes that the Indian agencies have fake information pouring in through their networks, which has dramatically and adversely affected India's war on terror. Men who are picked up for terror cases have often been IB informants for years like the case of afzal guru, whose handler in the establishment was police officer Davinder Singh, who was arrested last year in a terror case. A former informer, who was arrested in a terror case, talks of how he was being pressured by his handlers to indoctrinate local Muslims into taking up arms and then pass on the details. "It was a simple plan – create a fake terrorist and arrest him, ruin his life and show him off to the public as a success of the war on terror. This model, of creating a fake incident or a fake terrorist, is among the dirty secrets of the Indian security establishment”.
The book maps this rogueish turn of our security establishment to the experience of these agencies in Kashmir and the North East and the time during the IPKF's misadventure in Sri Lanka. These are places where some of these methods were first tried out, and later perfected. It is in presenting the history of the past two decades, from the Gujarat genocide onwards, that Joseph shows his deftness in connecting the dots and stitching a narrative, building a ready reference to the question "How we reached here".
He notes how Modi was the first one to claim a conspiracy at Godhra contradicting the version of local police officials. He recollects the events during the genocide, the V.R.Krishna Iyer tribunal, Haren Pandya's deposition, his murder, how Modi was heckled when he arrived to see Pandya's body (Pandya's family also did not want him to come. The same happened in the case of Hemant Karkare, who exposed Hindutva terror. After his death in the Mumbai attacks, the family did not want Modi to visit, yet he did go), Malegaon, Samjhauta, Modasa terror attacks and Hemant Karkare's cracking down on Hindutva terror cells, the seventeen fake encounters between 2002 and 2006 in Gujarat under Modi, Sohrabuddin case, Amit Shah's calls for nine days to the police officers involved in the fake encounters, Justice Loya murder, Amit Shah's acquittal, role of officers like Rakesh Asthana, who has now been made Delhi Police Commissioner by breaking all rules, the watering down of all Hindutva terror cases, terror-accused Pragya Thakur's Parliament entry....all of this segues into the present, the Bhima Koregaon fabricated case, the planting of evidence and jailing of some of India's best known intellectuals and activists, all of it facilitated by pliant and compromised agencies, who have become the master engineers of a coup against democracy.
In one of the striking criticism of how journalists aid these agencies unquestioningly, Joseph writes- "Confident that they are beyond accountability, these security agencies feed journalists information that cannot be verified. Interactions with anonymous sources also lead many journalists to believe that they are privileged members of some secret club, and carry a burden to save the country. So they end up amplifying fake narratives and unverifiable information, which reduces them to pawns on a chessboard rather than respected members of a free media."
He notes how between 2010 and 2014, the CBI and ED did show admirable professionalism and initiative by investigating and arresting many powerful ruling party associates and corporate czars. This was the period during which the mainstream media in India suddenly found their spine to investigate those in power. That period lasted for just four years, until Modi's arrival. "Looking back from 2021, that period, only a decade ago, seems surreal". Maybe even this show of spine was funded and dictated by those forces who were waiting to capture our democracy.
One of the most curious cases mentioned in the book is that of S.Malini, celebrated narco analyst at the Forensic Science Laboratory, nicknamed Dr.Narco, who had done 1000 narco tests, 3000 lie detection tests and 1500 brain-mapping tests, before it was revealed in 2009 that her educational qualifications were fake. But no one cared to go back to her findings and tests or assess the impact on the many criminals and innocents she had indicted through them. The transcript of her narco test makes for chilling reading. When she fails to get the answers that the investigator wants, she asks the question which would get the relevant answer, with the edited video later making the case tight. When Wahid (the Mumbai school teacher who was wrongly accused) replies 'No' to Malini's question whether Pakistanis had stayed in his house, she asks 'Name India's neighbouring countries'. 'Pakistan' which would come in the reply, would then be attached to a question of her choice.
Joseph's narrative does not leave us with any sense of hope, which really is not its aim. It gives us an honest picture of the enormity of the pit in which we all have collectively landed in, filling us with dread at of what lies ahead. He writes - "As the country's Home minister, Amit Shah is in charge of most of the non-military parts of the security establishment, which had once investigated him". If that ominous line does not scare you, he ends with a striking re-telling of Kapil Mishra's now infamous riot-starting speech in front of a police officer. Undoing all this might take decades. That is, if ever there begins a process to undo all of it.
In his second book 'The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State', after the the acclaimed 'A Feast of the Vultures', which laid bare many unknown stories of corruption at the highest levels, Josy Joseph trains his focus on the non-military arm of the security establishment, consisting of the CBI, the NIA, the Intelligence Bureau, the anti-terror squads and other agencies. It is well worth remembering that Indira Gandhi and her coterie ran India during the emergency using some of these agencies, but even she would not have imagined the levels to which these agencies would be used in the later decades, especially in the current times we are living through.
Joseph pegs the earlier portions of the book around the story of Wahid, a Mumbai-based school teacher, who was randomly picked up one day by the agencies, accusing him of engineering a terror attack. It was the beginning of an ordeal as he was arrested and tortured multiple times based on fabricated charges in various cases including the Mumbai train blasts of 2006. Although free now, he is now working to free the 12 wrongly convicted in the same case. Joseph points to the low representation of Muslims in IPS and paramilitary (Not a single Muslim in senior positions in the RAW), deep-rooted and systemic anti-Muslim bias and the sheer inability to crack down on the actual terrorists for this hunt of innocent Muslims.
Drawing on his years of experience of covering these agencies, he writes that the Indian agencies have fake information pouring in through their networks, which has dramatically and adversely affected India's war on terror. Men who are picked up for terror cases have often been IB informants for years like the case of afzal guru, whose handler in the establishment was police officer Davinder Singh, who was arrested last year in a terror case. A former informer, who was arrested in a terror case, talks of how he was being pressured by his handlers to indoctrinate local Muslims into taking up arms and then pass on the details. "It was a simple plan – create a fake terrorist and arrest him, ruin his life and show him off to the public as a success of the war on terror. This model, of creating a fake incident or a fake terrorist, is among the dirty secrets of the Indian security establishment”.
The book maps this rogueish turn of our security establishment to the experience of these agencies in Kashmir and the North East and the time during the IPKF's misadventure in Sri Lanka. These are places where some of these methods were first tried out, and later perfected. It is in presenting the history of the past two decades, from the Gujarat genocide onwards, that Joseph shows his deftness in connecting the dots and stitching a narrative, building a ready reference to the question "How we reached here".
He notes how Modi was the first one to claim a conspiracy at Godhra contradicting the version of local police officials. He recollects the events during the genocide, the V.R.Krishna Iyer tribunal, Haren Pandya's deposition, his murder, how Modi was heckled when he arrived to see Pandya's body (Pandya's family also did not want him to come. The same happened in the case of Hemant Karkare, who exposed Hindutva terror. After his death in the Mumbai attacks, the family did not want Modi to visit, yet he did go), Malegaon, Samjhauta, Modasa terror attacks and Hemant Karkare's cracking down on Hindutva terror cells, the seventeen fake encounters between 2002 and 2006 in Gujarat under Modi, Sohrabuddin case, Amit Shah's calls for nine days to the police officers involved in the fake encounters, Justice Loya murder, Amit Shah's acquittal, role of officers like Rakesh Asthana, who has now been made Delhi Police Commissioner by breaking all rules, the watering down of all Hindutva terror cases, terror-accused Pragya Thakur's Parliament entry....all of this segues into the present, the Bhima Koregaon fabricated case, the planting of evidence and jailing of some of India's best known intellectuals and activists, all of it facilitated by pliant and compromised agencies, who have become the master engineers of a coup against democracy.
In one of the striking criticism of how journalists aid these agencies unquestioningly, Joseph writes- "Confident that they are beyond accountability, these security agencies feed journalists information that cannot be verified. Interactions with anonymous sources also lead many journalists to believe that they are privileged members of some secret club, and carry a burden to save the country. So they end up amplifying fake narratives and unverifiable information, which reduces them to pawns on a chessboard rather than respected members of a free media."
He notes how between 2010 and 2014, the CBI and ED did show admirable professionalism and initiative by investigating and arresting many powerful ruling party associates and corporate czars. This was the period during which the mainstream media in India suddenly found their spine to investigate those in power. That period lasted for just four years, until Modi's arrival. "Looking back from 2021, that period, only a decade ago, seems surreal". Maybe even this show of spine was funded and dictated by those forces who were waiting to capture our democracy.
One of the most curious cases mentioned in the book is that of S.Malini, celebrated narco analyst at the Forensic Science Laboratory, nicknamed Dr.Narco, who had done 1000 narco tests, 3000 lie detection tests and 1500 brain-mapping tests, before it was revealed in 2009 that her educational qualifications were fake. But no one cared to go back to her findings and tests or assess the impact on the many criminals and innocents she had indicted through them. The transcript of her narco test makes for chilling reading. When she fails to get the answers that the investigator wants, she asks the question which would get the relevant answer, with the edited video later making the case tight. When Wahid (the Mumbai school teacher who was wrongly accused) replies 'No' to Malini's question whether Pakistanis had stayed in his house, she asks 'Name India's neighbouring countries'. 'Pakistan' which would come in the reply, would then be attached to a question of her choice.
Joseph's narrative does not leave us with any sense of hope, which really is not its aim. It gives us an honest picture of the enormity of the pit in which we all have collectively landed in, filling us with dread at of what lies ahead. He writes - "As the country's Home minister, Amit Shah is in charge of most of the non-military parts of the security establishment, which had once investigated him". If that ominous line does not scare you, he ends with a striking re-telling of Kapil Mishra's now infamous riot-starting speech in front of a police officer. Undoing all this might take decades. That is, if ever there begins a process to undo all of it.
November 19, 2021
A fair warning to anyone who embarks on the journey to read this book: You will leave the pages a cynical person with immense distrust in our investigative and security agencies.
Josy Joseph’s “The Silent Coup - A History of India’s Deep State” is a bone-chilling and eye-opening account of how democratic structures in the country are being hammered down to nothingness in front of us with the aid of a myriad of national and state security and investigative agencies, such as the NIA, IB, CBI, ATS, whose remote control lies in the hands of the ruling elite.
The book is divided into two parts - the first part focuses on the story of Wahid and his tryst with the police from the perspective of a poor Muslim with no financial or social resources. His interactions with these agencies unravel how a narrative is woven to portray to the media and public at large that there is a war on terror and India is a proactive participant in that war. Many a time (read: every time), innocent people are implicated, mostly Muslims, to lay down the story that there is a connection between terrorism and this particular religion. Any reference to Hindutva terrorists (say, Pragya Singh Thakur) is actively swept under the carpet.
The second part of the book focuses on the excesses of these agencies in not just Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat, North-East states, but also in the civil war which took place in Sri Lanka, leading up to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. These so-called independent agencies bend to the will of the political executive, or anyone who can pay them enough. This is exemplified by the Jay Polychem case where the Punjab Police is shown to do the dirty bidding of its rich masters to silence whistle-blowers. And let’s not even get started on the 2002 Riots in Gujarat. No matter how much I read about it, the mechanics of it will never fail to petrify me about how deeply rooted the corruption and hate is, and how extensively democratic systems can be deployed to ruin the lives of many in order to protect a few.
While the information that is present in the book may be something most of us are aware of, but reading first-person accounts of the insidiousness of it all is enough to make you stop and wonder whether the rot can ever be decimated. Joseph has done a magnificent job in penning down how authoritarianism can flourish when you have such willing slaves to shoot down (LITERALLY) any form of dissent.
This is a book that will depress you to your core. However, it is an exercise that everyone must undertake to understand how our country truly functions, and to think twice before believing the stories that are weaved by these agencies and run by the media. I, for one, will certainly not shut up about this book until and unless everyone around me has read it and shares my disbelief and anger.
Four stars because the story-telling is slightly jumbled. But, to be fair, the content does make up for the quality of writing. Either way, must must must read.
The book is divided into two parts - the first part focuses on the story of Wahid and his tryst with the police from the perspective of a poor Muslim with no financial or social resources. His interactions with these agencies unravel how a narrative is woven to portray to the media and public at large that there is a war on terror and India is a proactive participant in that war. Many a time (read: every time), innocent people are implicated, mostly Muslims, to lay down the story that there is a connection between terrorism and this particular religion. Any reference to Hindutva terrorists (say, Pragya Singh Thakur) is actively swept under the carpet.
The second part of the book focuses on the excesses of these agencies in not just Kashmir, Punjab, Gujarat, North-East states, but also in the civil war which took place in Sri Lanka, leading up to the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. These so-called independent agencies bend to the will of the political executive, or anyone who can pay them enough. This is exemplified by the Jay Polychem case where the Punjab Police is shown to do the dirty bidding of its rich masters to silence whistle-blowers. And let’s not even get started on the 2002 Riots in Gujarat. No matter how much I read about it, the mechanics of it will never fail to petrify me about how deeply rooted the corruption and hate is, and how extensively democratic systems can be deployed to ruin the lives of many in order to protect a few.
While the information that is present in the book may be something most of us are aware of, but reading first-person accounts of the insidiousness of it all is enough to make you stop and wonder whether the rot can ever be decimated. Joseph has done a magnificent job in penning down how authoritarianism can flourish when you have such willing slaves to shoot down (LITERALLY) any form of dissent.
This is a book that will depress you to your core. However, it is an exercise that everyone must undertake to understand how our country truly functions, and to think twice before believing the stories that are weaved by these agencies and run by the media. I, for one, will certainly not shut up about this book until and unless everyone around me has read it and shares my disbelief and anger.
Four stars because the story-telling is slightly jumbled. But, to be fair, the content does make up for the quality of writing. Either way, must must must read.
January 29, 2022
If you are one of those modern-day patriots, whose ears perk up at the mention of Pakistan and terrorism, if your patriotism is on full flow in social media during cricket matches and other far more important days like Republic Day or Independence Day, or if you believe in that practice of slamming any critic of government as 'anti-national', then this book isn't for you. On the contrary, if you love your country, and all that the very name of 'India' stands for and you truly want to identify the maladies plaguing the nation today, then this is a must-read.
I wonder how such an hard-hitting, fact-stating bitter pill of a book is not yet banned, or at least create a furore in the society around. 5 stars!
I wonder how such an hard-hitting, fact-stating bitter pill of a book is not yet banned, or at least create a furore in the society around. 5 stars!
October 20, 2021
"A cruelty which has no meaning and is a way of life itself ....." - V.S.Naipaul, A Wounded Civilization
This is a chilling book. I felt like I was reading an account of Indian mediocrity and tendency for chaos. Blunders committed by Indian intelligence agencies in Kashmir, Gujarat, Punjab and Sri Lanka, scapegoating of innocents (especially Muslims) because the security officials lacked the talent, training and integrity to investigate cases of terrorism, turf wars between various Indian intelligence agencies and fake encounters to distract attention from real issues are at the heart of the book.
My only beef is that Josy Joseph is not a particularly good writer. After a point, the book reads like a list of abductions and murders committed by the Indian intelligence agencies. There is no humor or interesting commentary. Josy is no Hunter S Thompson. Maybe he was not trying to be Hunter. Also, many of the incidents covered in the book like the Gujarat riots, the 26/11 terror attacks and IAC-814 hijacking were already known to me. Though Indian involvement in the Sri Lankan civil war was not something I knew much about. I wish the writer covered the possible link between Bollywood and these intelligence agencies. There are so many films and TV series that celebrate the alacrity of the Indian security establish in dealing with terrorists or catching corrupt businessmen in the last five years. This book is like a kick in the ass to all those movies.
This is a chilling book. I felt like I was reading an account of Indian mediocrity and tendency for chaos. Blunders committed by Indian intelligence agencies in Kashmir, Gujarat, Punjab and Sri Lanka, scapegoating of innocents (especially Muslims) because the security officials lacked the talent, training and integrity to investigate cases of terrorism, turf wars between various Indian intelligence agencies and fake encounters to distract attention from real issues are at the heart of the book.
My only beef is that Josy Joseph is not a particularly good writer. After a point, the book reads like a list of abductions and murders committed by the Indian intelligence agencies. There is no humor or interesting commentary. Josy is no Hunter S Thompson. Maybe he was not trying to be Hunter. Also, many of the incidents covered in the book like the Gujarat riots, the 26/11 terror attacks and IAC-814 hijacking were already known to me. Though Indian involvement in the Sri Lankan civil war was not something I knew much about. I wish the writer covered the possible link between Bollywood and these intelligence agencies. There are so many films and TV series that celebrate the alacrity of the Indian security establish in dealing with terrorists or catching corrupt businessmen in the last five years. This book is like a kick in the ass to all those movies.
February 15, 2022
I bought this book in an airport when I was waiting for my flight. The title and subject of the book was quite intriguing but after reading the whole work I can say that it is one full piece of propaganda concatenated by the writer based on his political and ideological biases.
The whole book consist of just news stories and their subjective conclusion from the writer with hardly any concert evidence supporting them. Quite a loss of money and time, and definitely a reminder to the proverb " Never judge a book by its cover".
November 14, 2021
Every once in a while you read a book that you want everyone to read. Something that you will not stop talking about for days afterward unless everyone that you know or deeply care about has been privy to what you have witnessed. Until their viewpoints have been as irrevocably altered as yours - courtesy of someone's deep experience and painstaking research to unlock a mysterious, unknown world. Josy Joesph's The Silent Coup is that book.
The Silent Coup is primarily about India's deep security establishment - the investigative agencies, the police, and the intelligence apparatus, and its systematic capture and abuse by the political class. It is a subject that is inscrutable by its inherent nature - perceived as something that usually doesn't affect the lives of ordinary men. Until it does for the unfortunate few and how. Reading a book is a bone-chilling reminder of how deeply-embedded the security establishment is into the fabric of Indian society.
Josy has peppered the book with interesting anecdotes stemming from decades of reporting on defence and security, but what touched me the most was Wahid's story, which covers the first five chapters of the book. Wahid's only crime, now common to millions across the country, was that he belonged to the wrong religion. Worse still that he belonged to the wrong religion, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. His story is incredible, overwhelming, poignant, and infuriating. The world may not be perfect, but it seems utterly unfair that there exists a system that can target, break and swallow individuals whole as it did for Wahid. A system that could fail so miserably leaving torture, death, and destruction in its wake. Wahid's story humanises everything this book is about.
There has been no dearth of non-fiction writing in India, particularly about its governance and politics. What makes Josy Joseph's book special is that it has both content and narrative. His non-fiction reads like a story - seamless, paced, and hard-hitting. This is also true of his previous work - A Feast of Vultures, another book that I'd highly recommend. The second thing that makes me particularly adore Josy's writing is his unimpeachable integrity and unrelenting courage, both of which come at great personal risk. He is a journalist par excellence who has used his tremendous talent and privilege to make the world a more just and equitable place, and for that alone, his work has my deepest respect and admiration.
It's all very well to read fantasy fiction, self-help, or murder mysteries - for reading for one's pleasure is indeed a noble pursuit. But as the English poet John Donne said - no man is an island. Every once in a while we ought to step out of our privileged silos and face the society that we constitute. We are not an unaffected neutral party - we all have a stake in the system. The violence that is perpetrated has our tacit approval and the support of our taxes. Every time a Wahid is tortured, we all become complicit in the creation of a system that is less just, less equitable than before - not only for the countless Wahids but for everyone, including ourselves. It is alright if we cannot fight against it, but the least we can do is engage with it. The Silent Coup provides such an opportunity.
Margaret Atwood said that 'a word after a word after a word is power.' Josy Joseph's The Silent Coup is power.
_____________________________
I regularly write about books, long-forms & stuff from around the web in the form of a short (<5 min), fortnightly e-mail newsletter (https://sumitbhagat.substack.com/). Please do subscribe if this is something you might find useful. :)
The Silent Coup is primarily about India's deep security establishment - the investigative agencies, the police, and the intelligence apparatus, and its systematic capture and abuse by the political class. It is a subject that is inscrutable by its inherent nature - perceived as something that usually doesn't affect the lives of ordinary men. Until it does for the unfortunate few and how. Reading a book is a bone-chilling reminder of how deeply-embedded the security establishment is into the fabric of Indian society.
Josy has peppered the book with interesting anecdotes stemming from decades of reporting on defence and security, but what touched me the most was Wahid's story, which covers the first five chapters of the book. Wahid's only crime, now common to millions across the country, was that he belonged to the wrong religion. Worse still that he belonged to the wrong religion, in the wrong place, at the wrong time. His story is incredible, overwhelming, poignant, and infuriating. The world may not be perfect, but it seems utterly unfair that there exists a system that can target, break and swallow individuals whole as it did for Wahid. A system that could fail so miserably leaving torture, death, and destruction in its wake. Wahid's story humanises everything this book is about.
There has been no dearth of non-fiction writing in India, particularly about its governance and politics. What makes Josy Joseph's book special is that it has both content and narrative. His non-fiction reads like a story - seamless, paced, and hard-hitting. This is also true of his previous work - A Feast of Vultures, another book that I'd highly recommend. The second thing that makes me particularly adore Josy's writing is his unimpeachable integrity and unrelenting courage, both of which come at great personal risk. He is a journalist par excellence who has used his tremendous talent and privilege to make the world a more just and equitable place, and for that alone, his work has my deepest respect and admiration.
It's all very well to read fantasy fiction, self-help, or murder mysteries - for reading for one's pleasure is indeed a noble pursuit. But as the English poet John Donne said - no man is an island. Every once in a while we ought to step out of our privileged silos and face the society that we constitute. We are not an unaffected neutral party - we all have a stake in the system. The violence that is perpetrated has our tacit approval and the support of our taxes. Every time a Wahid is tortured, we all become complicit in the creation of a system that is less just, less equitable than before - not only for the countless Wahids but for everyone, including ourselves. It is alright if we cannot fight against it, but the least we can do is engage with it. The Silent Coup provides such an opportunity.
Margaret Atwood said that 'a word after a word after a word is power.' Josy Joseph's The Silent Coup is power.
_____________________________
I regularly write about books, long-forms & stuff from around the web in the form of a short (<5 min), fortnightly e-mail newsletter (https://sumitbhagat.substack.com/). Please do subscribe if this is something you might find useful. :)
April 17, 2022
In reality, the Indian security establishment was floundering lts deep-seated biases, institutional decay and lack of accountability had forced it down a rabbit hole. Besides the profuse inflow of fake inputs into their mammoth of an information network, agencies were also engaged in turf battles, rather than cooperating in the hunt for the terrorists.
It takes guts and bravery to write a book like this in an India where slowly authoritarianism is taking over. Josy Joseph is a seasoned journalist, who has written a lot of gritty and dark reports throughout his career, exposes the Indian security establishment which is often plagued by fake encounters and arrests to save their face in front of the media. It is a gritty tale that covers Mumbai and ATS in Part 1 and the other parts like Kashmir, Manipur, Punjab and Gujarat in Part 2.
How did our police and intelligence agencies come to display such utter disrespect for the law, citizens and the state? This systemic Corrosion is the outcome of a process that began decades ago, as India hurriedly went about the business of building the world's largest democracy and its security establishment spread out to protect the new nation's sovereignty. At that time, neither the political executive nor the courts paid attention to the accountability of the security establishment, especially its non-military arms-the police that was still governed by colonial laws, intelligence agencies the at were growing by the day to deal with the ever-increasing threats, the crime investigators and the taxmen whose roles were not adequately legislated.
The view is that although the security establishment has been defined as an unbiased structure alongside the judiciary, there are players within the same who play to the tune of powerful politicians and the ruling government. The book is a view at India through its various insurgencies, terrorist attacks and does not leave any of the previous governments (UPA/NDA) that have created terrorists out of innocents.
The history of Pakistan can be seen through the prism of Kashmir. The country was visualized as a utopian homeland for Muslims, but fell well short of that ideal. Kashmir then became its moral cause. Pakistani leaders believed in freeing Kashmir from India's clutches, but also feared a military reprisal from its larger neighbor. Thus, a strong armed forces and intelligence set-up became crucial to the very idea of the Pakistan nation state. Unsurprisingly, the military behemoth took over the state by I958, in the first of many military coups. The Kashmir dispute turned out to be a boon for the Pakistan military. It became a justification for the military's running of the country, building its own businesses, nurturing a deadly intelligence apparatus, and executing and torturing those who dissented. The first of its victims was democracy itself. Seven decades later, the Pakistan Army continues to be the country's most powerful institution. When observers say that most countries have an army but the Pakistan Army has a country, they do not exaggerate.
In Conclusion
A must read if you are an Indian citizen, a pure journalistic endeavor and unbiased on many levels.
It takes guts and bravery to write a book like this in an India where slowly authoritarianism is taking over. Josy Joseph is a seasoned journalist, who has written a lot of gritty and dark reports throughout his career, exposes the Indian security establishment which is often plagued by fake encounters and arrests to save their face in front of the media. It is a gritty tale that covers Mumbai and ATS in Part 1 and the other parts like Kashmir, Manipur, Punjab and Gujarat in Part 2.
How did our police and intelligence agencies come to display such utter disrespect for the law, citizens and the state? This systemic Corrosion is the outcome of a process that began decades ago, as India hurriedly went about the business of building the world's largest democracy and its security establishment spread out to protect the new nation's sovereignty. At that time, neither the political executive nor the courts paid attention to the accountability of the security establishment, especially its non-military arms-the police that was still governed by colonial laws, intelligence agencies the at were growing by the day to deal with the ever-increasing threats, the crime investigators and the taxmen whose roles were not adequately legislated.
The view is that although the security establishment has been defined as an unbiased structure alongside the judiciary, there are players within the same who play to the tune of powerful politicians and the ruling government. The book is a view at India through its various insurgencies, terrorist attacks and does not leave any of the previous governments (UPA/NDA) that have created terrorists out of innocents.
The history of Pakistan can be seen through the prism of Kashmir. The country was visualized as a utopian homeland for Muslims, but fell well short of that ideal. Kashmir then became its moral cause. Pakistani leaders believed in freeing Kashmir from India's clutches, but also feared a military reprisal from its larger neighbor. Thus, a strong armed forces and intelligence set-up became crucial to the very idea of the Pakistan nation state. Unsurprisingly, the military behemoth took over the state by I958, in the first of many military coups. The Kashmir dispute turned out to be a boon for the Pakistan military. It became a justification for the military's running of the country, building its own businesses, nurturing a deadly intelligence apparatus, and executing and torturing those who dissented. The first of its victims was democracy itself. Seven decades later, the Pakistan Army continues to be the country's most powerful institution. When observers say that most countries have an army but the Pakistan Army has a country, they do not exaggerate.
In Conclusion
A must read if you are an Indian citizen, a pure journalistic endeavor and unbiased on many levels.
September 7, 2021
First published in the Business Standard.
India’s trysts with authoritarianism
Why would a CBI official be denied interrogating three high-profile Hindutva ideologues? Even though all evidence would point to Indore for the “second time”, in a lead to the 2006 Malegaon blasts, why would the security establishment not initiate a chase for (now MP) Pragya Singh Thakur? How can directors of a Delhi-based petrochemical company fly safely to London after having been booked for money laundering and circular trading of diamonds, among other financial irregularities?
The investigative journalist and founder of digital media start-up Confluence Media, with more than two decades of experience of reporting on security and exposing crucial scams—Adarsh Housing Society, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and Naval War Room Leak, to name a few—Josy Joseph offers insights into these questions and uncovers more about the way India’s security establishment functions in his latest book The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State.
This year, a US-based NGO, Freedom House, which assesses political freedom around the world, declared India as a ‘partly free’ nation in its report. It cited the “multilayer pattern in which the Hindu nationalist government and its allies” have presided over the country as one of the causes of the country’s sharp decline in its ‘freedom score’. Presenting its worries about India’s future, it heavily criticised the Modi government under which the minority communities face brutal suppression and dissenters get silenced.
However, Joseph opines that the threat of losing democratic ethos has been looming over India for far too long now. He narrates several tales of India’s compromise with intelligence and its tryst with borderline authoritarianism into two parts in this book.
In the first, he traces the decade-long struggle of Wahid, a slum dweller, and schoolteacher, to prove his innocence in a false accusation by the Mumbai police in the post-9/11 world. And, in the second, he tells multiple tales of how India’s security establishment and intelligence agencies have played an indelible role in weakening the democratic fabric of the country, and how they have become “willing slaves” at the hands of their powerful masters.
Sample this: In 2020, Joseph receives a WhatsApp message: “When I highlighted this 10 years ago … no one bothered”. The sender, Samdeep Mohan Varghese (or Sam), had attached with this message a Hindustan Times piece with the headline “CBI book Delhi company in Rs 1800-crore bank fraud case”. Sam, who was a complainant against the Delhi-based Jay Polychem India Ltd., and his family were hounded and harassed in this case, as the company had close ties with an influential political family in Punjab.
In another, Joseph investigates why the Malegaon blast lead was ignored. He concludes: to deny that there’s a Hindu terror, which he says is a “reality”, and to ensure that the larger narrative—the connection between a particular religion and terrorism—continues to run so that a few political agents and leaders can profit from this narrative. Though he mentions that religious beliefs have been “misused by violent elements to launch attacks on followers of other religions throughout history,” he finds world’s “obsession with Islamist terror” baffling.
Though it deals with concerning matters, the book isn’t devoid of humour. Here’s one incidence, for example: “On 30 January 1971, an Indian Airlines flight, Ganga, was hijacked by two Kashmiri youth carrying toy guns and fake grenades and taken to Lahore.” And this anecdote from Let Me Say It Now, a memoir by the former police commissioner of Mumbai, Rakesh Maria: Once two thieves, who offered the policemen help in fixing their vehicle, sat in the driving seat, asking the three policemen to push the broken-down vehicle only to outsmart them and run away. A scene right out of a Bollywood movie.
But as much as Joseph’s craft and storytelling delights, it saddens too. His concerns about the professionalism of the security establishment are real and worrisome. He fears if the security agencies continue to be mismanaged, then it will turn out to be India’s “worst nightmare.” Though he’s confident that such a future can be avoided, the statistics send a warning signal. Joseph highlights that the “estimates suggest that, since 1950”, out of “over 460 coup attempts” around the world, 233 have been successful. Marry these statistics with the situation in which a country runs on falsehoods, and you’ll get a country in unrest, which makes it a perfect site for both internal and external actors to take control of it.
India’s trysts with authoritarianism
Why would a CBI official be denied interrogating three high-profile Hindutva ideologues? Even though all evidence would point to Indore for the “second time”, in a lead to the 2006 Malegaon blasts, why would the security establishment not initiate a chase for (now MP) Pragya Singh Thakur? How can directors of a Delhi-based petrochemical company fly safely to London after having been booked for money laundering and circular trading of diamonds, among other financial irregularities?
The investigative journalist and founder of digital media start-up Confluence Media, with more than two decades of experience of reporting on security and exposing crucial scams—Adarsh Housing Society, 2010 Commonwealth Games, and Naval War Room Leak, to name a few—Josy Joseph offers insights into these questions and uncovers more about the way India’s security establishment functions in his latest book The Silent Coup: A History of India’s Deep State.
This year, a US-based NGO, Freedom House, which assesses political freedom around the world, declared India as a ‘partly free’ nation in its report. It cited the “multilayer pattern in which the Hindu nationalist government and its allies” have presided over the country as one of the causes of the country’s sharp decline in its ‘freedom score’. Presenting its worries about India’s future, it heavily criticised the Modi government under which the minority communities face brutal suppression and dissenters get silenced.
However, Joseph opines that the threat of losing democratic ethos has been looming over India for far too long now. He narrates several tales of India’s compromise with intelligence and its tryst with borderline authoritarianism into two parts in this book.
In the first, he traces the decade-long struggle of Wahid, a slum dweller, and schoolteacher, to prove his innocence in a false accusation by the Mumbai police in the post-9/11 world. And, in the second, he tells multiple tales of how India’s security establishment and intelligence agencies have played an indelible role in weakening the democratic fabric of the country, and how they have become “willing slaves” at the hands of their powerful masters.
Sample this: In 2020, Joseph receives a WhatsApp message: “When I highlighted this 10 years ago … no one bothered”. The sender, Samdeep Mohan Varghese (or Sam), had attached with this message a Hindustan Times piece with the headline “CBI book Delhi company in Rs 1800-crore bank fraud case”. Sam, who was a complainant against the Delhi-based Jay Polychem India Ltd., and his family were hounded and harassed in this case, as the company had close ties with an influential political family in Punjab.
In another, Joseph investigates why the Malegaon blast lead was ignored. He concludes: to deny that there’s a Hindu terror, which he says is a “reality”, and to ensure that the larger narrative—the connection between a particular religion and terrorism—continues to run so that a few political agents and leaders can profit from this narrative. Though he mentions that religious beliefs have been “misused by violent elements to launch attacks on followers of other religions throughout history,” he finds world’s “obsession with Islamist terror” baffling.
Besides the religious bias, in Joseph’s view and expert opinion, lapses and intelligence failures also occur because of security establishment’s, including military arms’, “unprofessionalism”. He complaints that the intelligence agencies don’t verify or audit their sources. And when these often-unverified sources supply seemingly critical information, it is never examined to separate fact from fiction.
Though it deals with concerning matters, the book isn’t devoid of humour. Here’s one incidence, for example: “On 30 January 1971, an Indian Airlines flight, Ganga, was hijacked by two Kashmiri youth carrying toy guns and fake grenades and taken to Lahore.” And this anecdote from Let Me Say It Now, a memoir by the former police commissioner of Mumbai, Rakesh Maria: Once two thieves, who offered the policemen help in fixing their vehicle, sat in the driving seat, asking the three policemen to push the broken-down vehicle only to outsmart them and run away. A scene right out of a Bollywood movie.
But as much as Joseph’s craft and storytelling delights, it saddens too. His concerns about the professionalism of the security establishment are real and worrisome. He fears if the security agencies continue to be mismanaged, then it will turn out to be India’s “worst nightmare.” Though he’s confident that such a future can be avoided, the statistics send a warning signal. Joseph highlights that the “estimates suggest that, since 1950”, out of “over 460 coup attempts” around the world, 233 have been successful. Marry these statistics with the situation in which a country runs on falsehoods, and you’ll get a country in unrest, which makes it a perfect site for both internal and external actors to take control of it.
February 3, 2022
A fantastic account of the state of our national security establishments, right from the state police to premier investigation agencies and how they have been manipulated over the years to suit the whims and fancies of the ruling political parties. The author has exploited his journalistic experiences and given detailed stories of the various security incidents which have occurred in India. Right from the Kashmir militancy to right-wing terrorism, this book is littered with stories and anecdotes spanning over decades.
This is a terrifying account of the machinations of the political establishment. Some of the incidents are still fresh in our minds. However, the way the investigations were botched up and questionable means to manipulate the outcomes are gripping and horrifying. The deep rot which has set in over the years is not likely to abate given the inclination of the security establishments to be yes-men to their political masters.
It is a well researched book and would give the Indian reader some disturbing thoughts to ponder over.
This is a terrifying account of the machinations of the political establishment. Some of the incidents are still fresh in our minds. However, the way the investigations were botched up and questionable means to manipulate the outcomes are gripping and horrifying. The deep rot which has set in over the years is not likely to abate given the inclination of the security establishments to be yes-men to their political masters.
It is a well researched book and would give the Indian reader some disturbing thoughts to ponder over.
September 4, 2022
"In the secretive world of security agencies, failures are routine, mistakes are allowed and a crime is usually pardoned."
November 4, 2021
I wanted to give this 4 stars because it can be slightly difficult to follow at times with the abrupt jumping of timelines and narratives but it would be unfair to a book which would, without a doubt, make your blood boil with its each and every page. The author does very well to weave an engaging narrative to bind the plethora of facts at his disposable regarding the topic. While his own moral judgements have been kept to a minimum, he does not shy away from calling a (politically charged) spade a (politically charged) spade.
Probably spoiler: The poet within the author jumped out at the very end when the final sentence of the book read "Then began the riots" as if the rest of the book wasn't chilling enough.
Probably spoiler: The poet within the author jumped out at the very end when the final sentence of the book read "Then began the riots" as if the rest of the book wasn't chilling enough.
August 28, 2021
One of the key attributes of independent India's democratic history has been the deliberate distance between the military establishment and the civil government. When the entire neighborhood, be it Pakistan or Bangladesh or Myanmar, has beared the brunt of over enthusiastic military establishment staging a coup and ousting the civil government, it was imperative that India maintained a rigid chain of command. However the same cannot be said for other institutions of the security establishment in India.
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In The Silent Coup, Josy Joseph, critically acclaimed investigative journalist and one of the best research minds in journalism, attempts to chronicle various instances of subjugation of democratic values by the very institutions designed and created to uphold them. The first half of the book revolves around the shoddy investigation in the 7/11 Mumbai bombings. Having read a very detailed and well researched book 'Six minutes of terror' a few months back, I was able to follow each and every step of the investigation. The book tells the story from the perspective of Wahid, one of the accused. The second half expands its horizon and details the failures of security establishment from 1947 till date. Be it Kashmir insurgency and militancy or Godhra train burning and ensuing riots or even India's embarrassment during the IPKF debacle or when the security establishment was caught with its pants down during the IC-184 highjack.
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The one big takeaway from this book is the fact how every individual has already built a narrative in their minds about either a community, a crime, a political party, any political inclination or even a person. These biases should be limited to individuals and not become the default of the institutions and agencies. Second was the fact how an academic with authority over his research is so much better than authors turned activists who throw around beautiful phrases to appeal an audience but lack proof or substance. Third would be the intense frustration and anger one feels towards the members of these agencies. The very people sworn to protect us, end up hunting common people to serve either their political masters, or as part of inter agency competition. Removing one government and replacing it with another political party won't do any good. For anyone who was genuinely politically active before the current regime came into being would know. What's needed is a long, tedious and permanent reform to create more accountability and responsibility in the system.
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Will definitely recommend this book. Thought provoking, intense and a super fast read.
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In The Silent Coup, Josy Joseph, critically acclaimed investigative journalist and one of the best research minds in journalism, attempts to chronicle various instances of subjugation of democratic values by the very institutions designed and created to uphold them. The first half of the book revolves around the shoddy investigation in the 7/11 Mumbai bombings. Having read a very detailed and well researched book 'Six minutes of terror' a few months back, I was able to follow each and every step of the investigation. The book tells the story from the perspective of Wahid, one of the accused. The second half expands its horizon and details the failures of security establishment from 1947 till date. Be it Kashmir insurgency and militancy or Godhra train burning and ensuing riots or even India's embarrassment during the IPKF debacle or when the security establishment was caught with its pants down during the IC-184 highjack.
.
.
.
The one big takeaway from this book is the fact how every individual has already built a narrative in their minds about either a community, a crime, a political party, any political inclination or even a person. These biases should be limited to individuals and not become the default of the institutions and agencies. Second was the fact how an academic with authority over his research is so much better than authors turned activists who throw around beautiful phrases to appeal an audience but lack proof or substance. Third would be the intense frustration and anger one feels towards the members of these agencies. The very people sworn to protect us, end up hunting common people to serve either their political masters, or as part of inter agency competition. Removing one government and replacing it with another political party won't do any good. For anyone who was genuinely politically active before the current regime came into being would know. What's needed is a long, tedious and permanent reform to create more accountability and responsibility in the system.
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.
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Will definitely recommend this book. Thought provoking, intense and a super fast read.
January 30, 2022
I picked this book up after having read Joseph's "A Fest of Vultures" a couple of years back, having found that an extremely fascinating read and genre. And this book did not disappoint at all.
The primary narrative of the book revolves around how a massive rot and severe incompetence has set in within the intelligence infrastructure of the country. Pure and simple incompetence can still be dealt, but the real shocker is the revelation of how our law and enforcement and intelligence agencies have become political tools with massive ramifications on major national events right from the emergency under Indira Gandhi, operation BlueStar to the current situation in Kashmir, the militancy situations around in Assam, the Maoist issue, our fight against the LTTE in Sri Lanka, the Gujarat riots and the slew of Mumbai blasts and resulting encounters in both these states.
This is one of those rare books that leaves you shaking as you read through it. It leaves you feeling physically vulnerable seeing the sheer lack of empathy these agencies have shown towards ordinary citizens. It leaves you wondering what is really true and what's a carefully orchestrated farce. Its amazing to see how the agencies have been used to build narratives around certain religions and persons, and leaves you wondering what's really your opinion vs. manipulated narratives driven by political short sightedness. Its one of those books that leaves you shaking!
Whilst the writing or narrative style may not be the best (and I did find moral judgement creeping into the writing at a number of points in the book), I would give this book the maximum rating for the authors ability to come out and write on this issue, and do so with the audacity of naming names and specifics the way he has (including our current PM, home minister, heads of NIA, IB etc.). For me, I found this book to epitomise what "systematic and subconscious disruption to the social and democratic fabric" actually meant both historically, and in the current political setup of the country. A very strongly suggested read for every politically and socially conscious individual in this country.
PS - Surprised this has not received some sort of nation level reprimand and ban yet.
The primary narrative of the book revolves around how a massive rot and severe incompetence has set in within the intelligence infrastructure of the country. Pure and simple incompetence can still be dealt, but the real shocker is the revelation of how our law and enforcement and intelligence agencies have become political tools with massive ramifications on major national events right from the emergency under Indira Gandhi, operation BlueStar to the current situation in Kashmir, the militancy situations around in Assam, the Maoist issue, our fight against the LTTE in Sri Lanka, the Gujarat riots and the slew of Mumbai blasts and resulting encounters in both these states.
This is one of those rare books that leaves you shaking as you read through it. It leaves you feeling physically vulnerable seeing the sheer lack of empathy these agencies have shown towards ordinary citizens. It leaves you wondering what is really true and what's a carefully orchestrated farce. Its amazing to see how the agencies have been used to build narratives around certain religions and persons, and leaves you wondering what's really your opinion vs. manipulated narratives driven by political short sightedness. Its one of those books that leaves you shaking!
Whilst the writing or narrative style may not be the best (and I did find moral judgement creeping into the writing at a number of points in the book), I would give this book the maximum rating for the authors ability to come out and write on this issue, and do so with the audacity of naming names and specifics the way he has (including our current PM, home minister, heads of NIA, IB etc.). For me, I found this book to epitomise what "systematic and subconscious disruption to the social and democratic fabric" actually meant both historically, and in the current political setup of the country. A very strongly suggested read for every politically and socially conscious individual in this country.
PS - Surprised this has not received some sort of nation level reprimand and ban yet.
September 25, 2021
3.5/5
To cut a long story short (and safe) -> In their recent book, The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty Acemoglu and Robinson argued that a state needs power. But it also needs shackles on power (accountability) to keep it in the "narrow corridor" of being a liberal democracy. And do not look at the Union Govt only - the state govts (that control the police) of all political parties are competing in a race to be more and more authoritarian and illiberal.
While this book is like a listing of symptoms of the disease, it is still a courageous book. A Better book on understanding the problem is When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics .
PS:- Having witnessed so-much whitewashing and apologism (also hate-mongering) that the "Left-liberals" indulge in, I would like authors like Joseph to use the words "Leftist" or "egalitarians" instead of "liberal" or "human rights activists".
To cut a long story short (and safe) -> In their recent book, The Narrow Corridor: States, Societies, and the Fate of Liberty Acemoglu and Robinson argued that a state needs power. But it also needs shackles on power (accountability) to keep it in the "narrow corridor" of being a liberal democracy. And do not look at the Union Govt only - the state govts (that control the police) of all political parties are competing in a race to be more and more authoritarian and illiberal.
While this book is like a listing of symptoms of the disease, it is still a courageous book. A Better book on understanding the problem is When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics .
PS:- Having witnessed so-much whitewashing and apologism (also hate-mongering) that the "Left-liberals" indulge in, I would like authors like Joseph to use the words "Leftist" or "egalitarians" instead of "liberal" or "human rights activists".
August 21, 2022
The book starts with this quote by Mahatma Gandhi:
"Real Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused. In other words, Swaraj is to be obtained by educating the masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate and control authority."
The Silent Coup is one such book which opens one's eyes and mind to a long process of thought where a reader becomes aware of how democratic India is at present and where it is headed. Josy Joseph is not any biased journalist, he digs deep into where the problem of creating a deep state and using it to the political executive's binding started and how it has grown out to be at present. This book has to be read at it's own pace because the reader will come across many heart wrenching true incidents which will arise so many questions which are not to be asked as per the establishment. One brilliant quote from the book is:
"They were not expected to behave like the terrorists they were hunting. Even in the thickest fog of war, the law-abider and the law-breaker must be distinguished."
The above quote is one such quote which makes us ponder on for a long time to accept the fact that the so called law-abiders and law-breakers might be the same in many instances. Last but not the least, read this book but also suggest this book to fellow unbiased readers who like reading all kinds of books.
"Real Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused. In other words, Swaraj is to be obtained by educating the masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate and control authority."
The Silent Coup is one such book which opens one's eyes and mind to a long process of thought where a reader becomes aware of how democratic India is at present and where it is headed. Josy Joseph is not any biased journalist, he digs deep into where the problem of creating a deep state and using it to the political executive's binding started and how it has grown out to be at present. This book has to be read at it's own pace because the reader will come across many heart wrenching true incidents which will arise so many questions which are not to be asked as per the establishment. One brilliant quote from the book is:
"They were not expected to behave like the terrorists they were hunting. Even in the thickest fog of war, the law-abider and the law-breaker must be distinguished."
The above quote is one such quote which makes us ponder on for a long time to accept the fact that the so called law-abiders and law-breakers might be the same in many instances. Last but not the least, read this book but also suggest this book to fellow unbiased readers who like reading all kinds of books.
October 2, 2021
Book starts with Mahatma Gandhi’s quote:
‘Real Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused. in other words,Swaraj is to be obtained by educating the masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate and control authority’.
This book is written from the point of view of Wahid in which Wahid a facilitator who is implicated in various fake cases. It gives better understanding of democracy,must check in to Josy Joseph’s ‘The Silent Coup: A History of India's Deep State'. This book is amplifying fake narrative which is set by the politicians, beautifully professed social and political scenario of India.It shows how politicians have used non military armes like ED,CBI,Police, Income Tax to intimidate the opponents,judiciary and media to subvert the democracy.
Once you finish it,palpable it whether you are really living in world’s biggest democracy or living with legalised goons. Facts and events staggers and force to think about our Politicians, Police, Bureaucrats army and judiciary system.
Each and every citizen of india must read it
‘Real Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of the capacity by all to resist authority when it is abused. in other words,Swaraj is to be obtained by educating the masses to a sense of their capacity to regulate and control authority’.
This book is written from the point of view of Wahid in which Wahid a facilitator who is implicated in various fake cases. It gives better understanding of democracy,must check in to Josy Joseph’s ‘The Silent Coup: A History of India's Deep State'. This book is amplifying fake narrative which is set by the politicians, beautifully professed social and political scenario of India.It shows how politicians have used non military armes like ED,CBI,Police, Income Tax to intimidate the opponents,judiciary and media to subvert the democracy.
Once you finish it,palpable it whether you are really living in world’s biggest democracy or living with legalised goons. Facts and events staggers and force to think about our Politicians, Police, Bureaucrats army and judiciary system.
Each and every citizen of india must read it
January 14, 2025
A hard hitting and stark reminder of the dangers of power and politics. Mr. Joseph unrelenting journalism and courage to document such scathing events deserves more appreciation and attention. One is left with very little hope after such reads.
December 7, 2021
How i wish i hadn't read this book. The silent coup tracks the history of India's deep state and its major constituents, the India Security Establishments. The workings of the security establishment have always been questionable. There is no accountability on the people that the executive have power over, alas due to the executive using the establishment as its domestic pet. For years the Indian security establishment have done deeds against Indian citizens that have reached the heights of human rights violations. It is depressing at the same time shameful that we as citizens have ignored all the signs.
September 22, 2021
Easy and quick. Well researched and documented book. In a Democracy how things can damage the reputation of Democracy itself if institutions and the machinery are not accountable in a manner that needs to be accountable. The author with his experience as a journalist tried to give various vase studies to bring to notice the readers how there is a need to reform to bring Democracy as a strong pillar on which India is modeled.
Read
September 26, 2021"And then began the riots."
This line from a critical point in Josy Joseph's new book pretty much sums up how India's 'deep state' has shambolically careened towards what it felt was the solution. The solution is usually dictated by political masters, often necessitated by professional survival instincts and also by the ingrained bigotry or biases.
From Kashmir to Punjab to Chhattisgarh to Jharkhand to Manipur to Maharashtra to Sri Lanka, India's 'deep state' has consistently failed and tried to make up with the rare individual effort but mostly with brute force. This book is a sobering reminder of these failures, damning our so-called intelligence infrastructure with irrefutably deep research and sharp observations.
Joseph's reputation as an investigative journalist has been sealed by his many decades of stellar work (and also by his earlier book), making The Silent Coup something of a 'best of' compilation in terms of range but embellished with a lot more research and analysis that gives the book wings.
Many reviews have pointed out the voluminous research that has gone into the book and that's table stakes for a project of this nature. (The book has 35 pages of sources listed under Notes.) But it is also an exceptionally well-written book, and one of the most rewarding aspects is the peeping out of the idealistic citizen from under the cover of a cynical journalist.
Must read. An important volume in the library of modern Indian history.
This line from a critical point in Josy Joseph's new book pretty much sums up how India's 'deep state' has shambolically careened towards what it felt was the solution. The solution is usually dictated by political masters, often necessitated by professional survival instincts and also by the ingrained bigotry or biases.
From Kashmir to Punjab to Chhattisgarh to Jharkhand to Manipur to Maharashtra to Sri Lanka, India's 'deep state' has consistently failed and tried to make up with the rare individual effort but mostly with brute force. This book is a sobering reminder of these failures, damning our so-called intelligence infrastructure with irrefutably deep research and sharp observations.
Joseph's reputation as an investigative journalist has been sealed by his many decades of stellar work (and also by his earlier book), making The Silent Coup something of a 'best of' compilation in terms of range but embellished with a lot more research and analysis that gives the book wings.
Many reviews have pointed out the voluminous research that has gone into the book and that's table stakes for a project of this nature. (The book has 35 pages of sources listed under Notes.) But it is also an exceptionally well-written book, and one of the most rewarding aspects is the peeping out of the idealistic citizen from under the cover of a cynical journalist.
Must read. An important volume in the library of modern Indian history.
September 10, 2021
This is an amazing book by Josy Joseph.Most liberal minded citizens who truly cherish democratic values and tenets ought to read this book.It impartially examines how the security/non military establishment blatantly violates the law in order to please and protect its political masters. Some of the examples the writer cites in the book are so shocking that one feels inclined to disbelieve them initially.However,he substantiates these claims with solid proof which he has gathered with painstaking research over many years.He blames political parties across ideological hues for this sad state of affairs. That said,what I found most disturbing is the steady rise of rogue elements within the security apparatus - be it investigation agencies,paramilitary,police (central and state units) or intel agencies.These elements are either motivated by venality or are filled with a sense of communal hatred which leads them to commit grave crimes.They show scant regard for the Constitution and the laws of the land.The impunity that they enjoy because of protection from 'higher ups' is extremely disturbing.This ongoing erosion of citizens rights by the 'Deep State' is the gravest threat to democracy.
October 5, 2022
A book which can at best be called a propaganda and at worst a trash. The author seem fond of conspiracy theories and try to spun narrative as per his imagination.he believe godhara burning of was accident and most of the blame lie with passenger while riot was pre-planned. Without giving any proof.he believe that parliament attack was planned by Indian security agencies. He cast aspersion on everything based on his unnamed source.
While reading first few pages gives an hint about this trash, I nevertheless decided to read fully to understand the mind of a propagandists.
He seem to think that Indian establishment is against Muslim and all attack by Muslim on hindu and india are either conspiracy by Indian agencies or the effect of Indian agencies highhandedness. Such a Pathetic lier..he claim that he got several offer from Indian agencies (with mouth watering monetary compensation), to work for them(don't know for what ) but refused because his conscience didn't allow that
He seem to be giving too much importance to himself and his unnamed sources. It seem he is on roll of some foreign agencies.
While reading first few pages gives an hint about this trash, I nevertheless decided to read fully to understand the mind of a propagandists.
He seem to think that Indian establishment is against Muslim and all attack by Muslim on hindu and india are either conspiracy by Indian agencies or the effect of Indian agencies highhandedness. Such a Pathetic lier..he claim that he got several offer from Indian agencies (with mouth watering monetary compensation), to work for them(don't know for what ) but refused because his conscience didn't allow that
He seem to be giving too much importance to himself and his unnamed sources. It seem he is on roll of some foreign agencies.
September 28, 2021
Hard hitting, goes for the jugular. Reveals so much that is dysfunctional and broken about our non-military security forces. The ethics of writing were stellar. While it could have turned into a saucey name dropping narrative, it steered focused on issues and their root causes. Would recommend it as a read to everyone interested in seeing the underbelly of state sponsored violence.
January 8, 2023
Wrote a long review. GR crashed. Now no review.
July 25, 2022
First of all, three stars are meant for ppl who are just reading this without studying India in a greater detail. I would probably award it 4* if I were Indian or academic with particular interest in this topic.
Main interest of Joseph who is an investigative journalist is to expose threat to democracy that is coming from the security services.
Joseph's book is structured mostly around the main historical events starting in the second half of the 20th century up and continuing till now. He goes into detail about how different govermental actors, with special emphasis on police and secret services, played their role in those events (Tamil uprising, muslim riots, Kashmir uprising, Mumbai 2008, Kargil conflict 1999, Bangladesh independence etc.).
He also uses specific ppl as an example of how the damage done by secret services and police influence lives.
My take >>> performance of secret services is really low. They were unable to target insurgents and provide intel for the Indian troops. This backfired in almost all of the scenarios (terrorists running rampant in Mumbai for 24 hours, Sri Lankan operation without any intel etc.). They can be dangerous, esp. against journalists and minorities (esp. muslims). So their role is less in the spirit of what they should do but they rather serve as an internal weapon against opponents of the "democratic" regime (which is illiberal).
Main interest of Joseph who is an investigative journalist is to expose threat to democracy that is coming from the security services.
Joseph's book is structured mostly around the main historical events starting in the second half of the 20th century up and continuing till now. He goes into detail about how different govermental actors, with special emphasis on police and secret services, played their role in those events (Tamil uprising, muslim riots, Kashmir uprising, Mumbai 2008, Kargil conflict 1999, Bangladesh independence etc.).
He also uses specific ppl as an example of how the damage done by secret services and police influence lives.
My take >>> performance of secret services is really low. They were unable to target insurgents and provide intel for the Indian troops. This backfired in almost all of the scenarios (terrorists running rampant in Mumbai for 24 hours, Sri Lankan operation without any intel etc.). They can be dangerous, esp. against journalists and minorities (esp. muslims). So their role is less in the spirit of what they should do but they rather serve as an internal weapon against opponents of the "democratic" regime (which is illiberal).
October 16, 2021
Veteran journalist Mr. Joseph argues that military coups are not the only indication that a democracy has been subverted. He builds his narrative by stringing together a bunch of well researched stories from past decades which show the blatant disregard of our investigative agencies for human lives, civil rights, oaths to their offices and the rule of law.
Aided by laws from colonial times and with zero accountability, these agencies time and again show that their ultimate loyalty is to their political masters, and not the people of India who they serve. In a country where thousands die every day from malnutrition and starvation, which stands 101st in the Word Hunger Index, valuable resources are being diverted to fund the ever burgeoning security apparatus, funding their fake informants and badly set up fake encounters.
These are stories from our past, some fresh in our memories and some fading away, brought to light by a brave journalist shining his light on them, just as media and journalism descends into darkness all around. Deeply upsetting, and sometimes chilling, this is an important read nonetheless.
Aided by laws from colonial times and with zero accountability, these agencies time and again show that their ultimate loyalty is to their political masters, and not the people of India who they serve. In a country where thousands die every day from malnutrition and starvation, which stands 101st in the Word Hunger Index, valuable resources are being diverted to fund the ever burgeoning security apparatus, funding their fake informants and badly set up fake encounters.
These are stories from our past, some fresh in our memories and some fading away, brought to light by a brave journalist shining his light on them, just as media and journalism descends into darkness all around. Deeply upsetting, and sometimes chilling, this is an important read nonetheless.
March 15, 2023
Although the lack of polish is a downer at times, this book serves as a powerful reminder of how fragile true democracy is. It makes one question if what we have is an equal democracy for all. Does the system work similarly well for everyone? Or are there certain classes that continue to remain subjugated by more powerful forces even after 75 years of attaining political independence? These and a few more equally uncomfortable questions haunt the reader while going through these harrowing cases of state terrorism. Of course, there is another side to the story. India has been strife-torn since centuries and a lot of its present problems are a result of its tumultuous history. Small wonder then that the country's law-enforcement and security agencies find themselves facing some tough choices when it comes to ensuring the rule of law within and the sanctity of its borders. Still, its works such as this that help one stay balanced and not lose sight of what one loses in the pursuit of that elusive objective - 'national security'.
September 28, 2021
Every well read Indian has an understanding of how scary the State can get if it wants to get even with you. The insurgencies in Kashmir, the North East, Chattisgarh etc are proof of that. Occasionally, this also gets documented in movies and books.
Joseph meticulously probes the Deep State's reach by reaching out to a few of it's hapless victims. Through their stories (mostly poor Muslims), he paints a devastating and tragic picture of our security establishments.
Being a libertarian myself, I wonder if our nation will ever manage to become one where the right to life and liberty is unbridled and guaranteed to all.
Joseph meticulously probes the Deep State's reach by reaching out to a few of it's hapless victims. Through their stories (mostly poor Muslims), he paints a devastating and tragic picture of our security establishments.
Being a libertarian myself, I wonder if our nation will ever manage to become one where the right to life and liberty is unbridled and guaranteed to all.
May 1, 2022
The Silent Coup by Josy Joseph is a sombre book. A veteran journalist, he details the degeneration of the security establishment in India, which, in his telling, has been completely captured by the political executive.
The topics he covers are vast, from the Mumbai train blasts and the 26/11 terror attack to the Kashmir insurgency, turmoil in the Northeast, the Indian Peace-Keeping Force’s debacles in Sri Lanka, and the ‘Gujarat model’ of the war on terror.
An important and worthwhile book, it examines the state of the Indian democracy the erosion of which is well underway. What remains to be seen is if this tide can be stemmed but the state of affairs points at a dire prognosis.
The topics he covers are vast, from the Mumbai train blasts and the 26/11 terror attack to the Kashmir insurgency, turmoil in the Northeast, the Indian Peace-Keeping Force’s debacles in Sri Lanka, and the ‘Gujarat model’ of the war on terror.
An important and worthwhile book, it examines the state of the Indian democracy the erosion of which is well underway. What remains to be seen is if this tide can be stemmed but the state of affairs points at a dire prognosis.
October 25, 2021
Josy Joseph's book is disturbing for any Indian who is proud to identify himself
/herself as a citizen of the largest democracy in the world. It will make us question whether we are truly free or are we mere puppets swinging to the false narratives churned up by the scary non-military security establishment. The cruelty meted upon the weakest sections of society in the states of J&K, Gujarat, Manipur, Maharashtra etc by the establishment will scar your soul. This is not the India our great freedom fighters fought for and died. The author needs to be truly appreciated for his courage in bringing out this book highlighting the chimera that is the security establishment. There is no accountability or justice in this system and it makes me despondent to my soul to think that I am an Indian. All wings of the Indian government which is for the common people have failed from the executive to the judiciary and the investigation agencies. All political parties are equally responsible for the moral rot that is gnawing at the pillars of the Indian democracy. As citizens, we have failed to hold accountable our government and its machinery. Shame! Shame!
/herself as a citizen of the largest democracy in the world. It will make us question whether we are truly free or are we mere puppets swinging to the false narratives churned up by the scary non-military security establishment. The cruelty meted upon the weakest sections of society in the states of J&K, Gujarat, Manipur, Maharashtra etc by the establishment will scar your soul. This is not the India our great freedom fighters fought for and died. The author needs to be truly appreciated for his courage in bringing out this book highlighting the chimera that is the security establishment. There is no accountability or justice in this system and it makes me despondent to my soul to think that I am an Indian. All wings of the Indian government which is for the common people have failed from the executive to the judiciary and the investigation agencies. All political parties are equally responsible for the moral rot that is gnawing at the pillars of the Indian democracy. As citizens, we have failed to hold accountable our government and its machinery. Shame! Shame!
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