Clancy gory finale for villainous India

MUMBAI, MAY 11: Tom Clancy is back. The author who introduced military technology to the masses courtesy superb techno-thrillers like The...

MUMBAI, MAY 11: Tom Clancy is back. The author who introduced military technology to the masses courtesy superb techno-thrillers like The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising has now crafted a wild post-Pokharan, -Chagai, -Agni and -Ghauri scenario in the subcontinent in his latest work of non-fiction.

Globo-cop USA unleashes a Yugoslavia-like bombing campaign against a rogue Indian government, swatting down the IAF and obliterating the Indian navy, establishing the supremacy of the US nuclear powered-aircraft carrier fleet in Carrier.

Excerpts of this book, which was released last week, surfaced on the military website Bharat Rakshak. The book is to hit India later this week.

After a factual description of life onboard the USA8217;s most modern tool of gunboat diplomacy, Clancy, who8217;s since drifted into writing video game scenarios and war machine analysis, gives a fictional scenario of how the warship will be used in conflict.

He ends up grafting an unintentionally hilariousscenario on the tail of the book. The scenario is 2015. For reasons undisclosed, India unleashes a nuclear first strike against Pakistan, wiping out Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The Pakistani counter-attack takes out New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The Indian leadership bunkers down in the Himalayas and holds out, even as the UN swings into action. A UN task force led by, who else, the US Navy, steams in to the rescue.

Sri Lanka sees its chance to get rid of supposed Indian domination8217; and declares its independence8217;. India launches nuke-tipped missiles towards Sri Lanka. The US navy with their anti-ballistic missiles and drones deployed from ships and base in Diego Garcia shoots down all of these incoming missiles. They also defeat the IAF which for some reason decided to fight them over the Gulf of Mannar. Half the Indian navy in Mumbai, including the aircraft carrier INS Viraat, is destroyed by the US navy.

Another round of US missiles destroys the Indian leadership in their Himalayanbunker.

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But it8217;s the names of the principal characters in this farcical scenario that take the cake. The Indian Prime Minister is Roshan Gandhi, presumably a scion of the Gandhi family, the naval commander is Admiral Ajay Jadeja and the Lankan PM Arjuna Ranatunga!

Seriously, Clancy watchers aren8217;t surprised. As with other authors like Frederick Forsyth, the thawing of the Cold War has landed him in a literary orphanage.

Post-Soviet Union, the author seems to harbour as much sympathy for India as Dan Burton. His 1994 novel Debt of Honour spoke of the Indian navy trying to grab Sri Lanka while its ally, a nuclear-armed Japan keeps the US at bay. In his last book, Executive Order, the Indians portrayed as shifty and untrustworthy, were the baddies again.