A new biography, General Brasstacks: The Sundarji Story, by bestselling author and military historian Probal DasGupta, revisits the extraordinary life and legacy of General Krishnaswamy Sundarji, the Indian Army chief who defined India’s military posture during the turbulent 1980s.

From the icy heights of Arunachal Pradesh to the deserts of Rajasthan and the jungles of Sri Lanka, Sundarji’s imprint was visible across nearly every major military and strategic decision of the decade. In 1986, during the Sumdorong Chu standoff with China, his bold decision to airlift a brigade onto dominating heights shifted the balance decisively in India’s favour, forcing Chinese troops to pull back. A year later, he planned Operation Brasstacks—one of the largest military exercises in the world since World War II—sending shockwaves across the region and unsettling Pakistan’s military leadership.

The biography situates Sundarji at the centre of a decade marked by dramatic political and security upheavals, including the assassinations of two Indian Prime Ministers and some of the most controversial military operations in independent India’s history. As Army Chief, Sundarji oversaw Operation Bluestar, the counter-militancy action inside the Golden Temple complex, and Operation Pawan, the deployment of the Indian Peacekeeping Force in Sri Lanka. His tenure also coincided with India’s first sustained deployment on the Siachen Glacier and military operations spanning Punjab, the Northeast, Jaffna and even the Maldives.

DasGupta’s account explores the paradox of a general widely regarded as brilliant yet polarising—praised for modernising the Indian Army and criticised for his aggressive style and political influence. Sundarji’s 820-day tenure as Army Chief delivered victories, setbacks, reforms and controversies in equal measure, leaving behind a legacy that continues to divide opinion.

Drawing on detailed research, the book examines whether Sundarji was ahead of his time in envisioning technology-driven warfare or out of step with an era increasingly shaped by insurgencies and low-intensity conflicts. It also revisits his role in shaping civil-military relations in a democracy—making him arguably the only Indian general to exert sustained influence on political and policy choices.

General Brasstacks: The Sundarji Story positions Krishnaswamy Sundarji as one of the most consequential military leaders in India’s history—a towering yet contested figure whose impact on India’s armed forces and strategic thinking remains profound, disputed and unresolved.

About the Author:
Probal DasGupta is an author, historian and columnist, best known for Watershed 1967: India’s Forgotten Victory Over China and Camouflaged: Forgotten Stories from Battlefields. A former officer of the Gorkha Rifles, DasGupta is an alumnus of Columbia University and a Braun-Myers Fellow, JN Tata Scholar and RD Sethna Scholar. He is the founder of Birdstone, a strategic advisory firm, and lives in Mumbai with his family.