Campaigning: The Journal of the Joint Forces Staff College 02 March 2022

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Dueling Book Review

Book reviews, as a genre, haven’t had much innovation in quite some time. For some reviewers, that allows 

entrenched, encrusted practices that doesn’t make for substantial or helpful reading. Such crustiness can also 

permit reviews that are a bit too promotional, laden with superlatives written by superfans or personal attestations 

to an author’s credibility, rather than conveying a realistic assessment of the author’s work and its contribution.

Dueling Reviews strives to address those issues. In Dueling Reviews, the reader will find two reviewers offering 

competing perspectives on the value of the book. Dueling Reviews force the reader to consider both perspectives

then make their own assessment.

Operation Cactus:

Indian Military Intervention in the Maldives, 1988

by Sanjay Badri-Maharaj

Reviewed by1

Lt Col Ann-Kristine H. Thrift

U.S. Air Force

The Indo-Pacific is a region in which 

religion, global energy, politics, navies, and 

nation-states vie for power, and the 

American military remains dangerously 

ignorant. In his monograph Operation 

Cactus: Indian Military Intervention in the 

Maldives, 1988, Sanjay Badri-Maharaj 

provides a glimpse into the politics and 

military capabilities of the India, Sri Lanka, 

and Maldives triangle. Operation Cactus 

was the Indian military’s intervention on 

behalf of the Maldives government to 

prevent a coup. At the time it was the largest 

out of area deployment of the Indian 

military. The sixty-six-page monograph 

sprinkles kernels of regional politicalmilitary insight between an overview of 

military capabilities and an understanding of 

Indian strategic goals while telling the 

adrenaline-pumping story of Indian 

intervention in the Maldives. 

Reviewed by2

Wg Cdr Simon Batt

Royal Air Force

Operation Cactus describes the 1988 Indian 

intervention in the Maldives to suppress a 

coup by a renegade group of Tamil 

insurgents. The operation was an 

unprecedented, ambitious, and rapid out-ofarea intervention by a defensively equipped, 

trained, and organized Indian military. The 

operation showcases the mindset, capabilities, 

and ambition of a strong regional power in the 

Indo-Pacific, with obvious parallels today, 

focusing on the operational and largely 

logistical challenges the Indian forces faced. 

The book posed high potential to learn more 

about the Indian military and gain a greater 

strategic understanding of the region and its 

history that largely went unfulfilled.

Operation Cactus is part of a larger series of 

studies into military endeavors in Asia and a 

broader canon covering Europe, the Middle 

East, Latin America, and Africa. With thirtyseven publications in the Asia series alone, 

the format is clearly popular. The book covers 

1 The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy or position of Joint 

Forces Staff College, National Defense University, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. 2 The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official policy or position of Joint 

Forces Staff College, National Defense University, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
Campaigning: The Journal of the Joint Forces Staff College 02 March 2022

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One third of the monograph is dedicated to 

describing Indian military forces. While 

likely mundane and uninteresting for those 

who want to get to the action, it is a valuable 

resource for military planners who can 

reference the pages as a ready-made military 

portion of the intelligence preparation of the 

environment. The monograph is also full of 

black and white pictures of military 

equipment with descriptions of capabilities. 

Though the monograph covers the 1988 

intervention, Badri-Maharaj includes the 

current Indian military order of battle 

throughout his descriptions, which is helpful 

to the military planner in determining 

interoperability for combined operations. 

The background Badri-Maharaj provides 

concerning Indian strategic goals is likely of 

most interest to the military planner. India is 

no stranger to conflict. The country has been 

combating insurgencies and border disputes 

since its independence in 1947. Through the 

1960s and 1970s, India viewed China as its 

primary adversary but remained a defensive 

military. The majority of militaries in the 

world are defensive, not offensive, which 

changes their capabilities and risk calculus. 

By the 1980s, Indian politicians began 

seeking ways to project power. They found 

their opportunity to exert regional influence 

first in involvement in Sri Lanka and then 

intervention in the Maldives. Badri-Maharaj 

uses plain language but somewhat choppy 

organization to link the two interventions 

together. 

The last third of the monograph detailing 

preparations for the coup and India’s 

reaction makes the initial slog worthwhile. 

Reality is truly more entertaining than 

fiction. The 1988 attempted coup lasted less 

than forty-eight hours and included eighty 

insurgents. By the end of Operation Cactus 

approximately 2,500 Indian military forces 

were deployed to the Maldives. The events 

leading to the coup read like a sitcom. A 

poultry farmer hires Tamil mercenaries from 

Sri Lanka to stage a coup in the Maldives. 

a broad swath of topics, from the strategic 

environment through individual tactical 

maneuvers. The book opens with a précis of 

the historical, cultural, political, and military 

context before providing a lengthy, highly 

detailed, and jargon-filled exposition of the 

Indian military capability. An account of the 

operational and logistical preparation follows, 

highlighting the typical fog and friction and 

the resourceful adaption and innovation to 

deliver results. Clausewitz’s trinity also 

implicitly raises its head. The book's last 

chapters are the most interesting and detail the 

operational approach and execution of the 

2,500 forces India rapidly deployed to Malé, 

Maldives. The operation itself was a 

tremendous organizational feat, planned and 

initiated in under sixteen hours, and one that 

announced India’s pivot from defense to 

regional power projection and influence. 

What exigence driven, time constrained, rapid 

operational development and execution may 

encumber planners and strategists, may also 

impede writers equally. The text and format 

feel clunky and somewhat schizophrenic.

On the one hand, the book is produced like a 

glossy magazine, laced with period pictures 

and a section of drawings of the equipment 

and forces involved. On the other hand, the

prose is dry and factual, more like a reference 

book. The story lacks the human element, 

pace, and tension that drive similar analyses 

of military campaigns. The book is 

challenging going and is not for the faint of 

heart. For instance, a significant portion of the 

book details the Indian military capabilities 

and is thick with abbreviations and 

alphanumeric indicators, creating an almost 

impenetrable text. The atomic level of detail 

is superfluous to the comprehension of events 

and impedes the overall flow and enjoyment 

of the book.

Operation Cactus is a mishmash of strategic 

assessment, enthusiasts' detail, and 

operational analysis. The different sections 

seem to have been written to appeal to 

different audiences, such as modelers, 
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Due to their desire for regional influence, 

the Indian government decided to intervene. 

The actions are written in matter of fact, 

chronological prose but the sheer comedy of 

errors on the part of the Tamil mercenaries 

makes the reading entertaining. Despite the 

comic sequence of events, the attempted 

coup was real, and the Indian military 

response was serious. Operation Cactus was 

the largest out-of-country deployment of 

forces India had attempted, and a watershed 

event for India. Badri-Maharaj suggests the 

operation cemented India’s role as a reliable 

regional partner. 

Operation Cactus: Indian Military 

Intervention in the Maldives, 1988, is not a 

must read but it is a very good read for 

military planners, especially those planning 

in the Indo-Pacific. Beyond the visage of 

entertainment, the monograph contains 

depth. The ideas Badri-Maharaj plants in the 

text allude to the pressures forces face as 

they transition from defensive to 

expeditionary. It offers ways to empathize 

with Indian and other developing forces and 

techniques to maximize partnerships. The 

interwoven history of the three countries 

provides important context for 

understanding the dynamics of the region 

that are beset with strategic competition and 

climate change challenges of vital national 

interest.

planners, and historians, but fail to come 

together as a coherent whole. The incoherence 

added to the frustration of wading through the 

book's overly detailed and abbreviation thick 

prose in the first half. Unfortunately, the 

second half did not rescue the book or yield a 

satisfying end. The analysis felt thin, and the 

fact the coup was effectively resolved before 

the Indian’s landed suggested deliberate 

coyness on the part of the author.

Operation Cactus: Indian Military 

Intervention in the Maldives, 1988 was 

a tough slog, lacked cohesion, and arguably 

tries to appeal to too broad an audience. The 

Indian achievements during Operation Cactus 

are worthy of note and celebration, but the 

book does the Indian forces a disservice. The 

glossy production was intended for mass 

appeal and may interest some patient 

logisticians, enthusiasts, or niche historians. 

Readers looking for a text that balances the 

analysis, narrative, and insight into the 

thinking and feeling of the forces, might be 

better served saving the space on their 

bookshelf for another.

Book Information:

Operation Cactus: Indian Military Intervention in the Maldives, 1988

By Sanjay Badri-Maharaj

Helion & Company, 2021. 66 pp.