Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has never ceased fascinating me, a man warm yet aristocratic, dreaming yet demonically active, honest yet tolerant. He had in him ample measure of failings and foibles, passions and prejudices. The enormous complexity of his character is immensely interesting for one inclined to probe human psychology. He defined himself in his autobiography as one in whom were living at least ten Nehrus at the same time, all thriving and negating one another.
Some years ago, I bought a book on Nehru from the RSS headquarters in Calcutta written by a saffron ideologue Dr N R Waradpande who also wrote ‘Aryan Invasion of India: A Myth’. The title of the book is ‘The Nemesis of Nehru- Worship’. I would here just reproduce what the writer wrote. My own take of Nehru on the matters the writer broached might be different from the one of the writer though.
At first let us take up the issue of the accession of Jammu and Kashmir into India, something that is still festering, poisoning the relation between the two neighbours-India and Pakistan-with no possibility of the resolution of the gore-drenched, war-ravaged imbroglio in foreseeable future. He wrote, “After August 1947, Gandhi visited Kashmir and saw the Maharaja. It was reported that Gandhi sounded the Maharaja about the accession. later Pakistan sent raiders to Kashmir. They captured Baramulla and threatening Srinagar, the fall of which was a question of days. The Maharaja had earlier warned Pakistan that he would seek the help of the neighbouring States if Pakistan persisted in harassing Kashmir. In accordance with this warning, the Maharaja sent his Dewan Meher Chand Mahajan to Delhi for help. Mahajan saw Nehru and informed that the situation in Kashmir was very serious. If Srinagar fell Kashmir would be irretrievable and it would be plunged in blood bath and outrages. The Indian Army should therefore be sent immediately. Nehru was very cold. He said there was no urgency. Even if Srinagar was taken it could be retaken. Mahajan replied that Kashmir could not wait even if Nehru could and that the Maharaja had given him the plenipotentiary powers to accede to Pakistan. Jinnah was fortunately in Delhi at the moment and he would go to him and sign the Instrument of Accession. After delivering the ultimatum, Mahajan walked out. The moment Mahajan left Shiekh Abdullah who was in the adjoining room listening to the conversation came in with panic writ large on his face and urged Nehru to call back Mahajan at once. So Mahajan who had not walked away very far was called back. Nehru then told Mahajan that the decision to send the army to Kashmir was a very serious one and he would like to consult Sardar Patel.”
Now let us come to the Chinese annexation of Tibet and the 1962 Indo-China border conflict. The RSS ideologue wrote, “Nehru ignored the advice (of Sardar Patel regarding the issue snowballing into a security concern for India). He was so sure that China had no evil design that as late as 1958, he allowed a Chinese military mission to tour India’s major defence establishments. The whole world regarded China’s occupation of Tibet as an act of aggression. Nehru could easily have said that Tibet is not China and Tibetans are not Chinese…The world would have endorsed that stand not only morally but also militarily. America was eager to contain Communism and it is doubtful whether even Russia would have opposed a UN action against China for the defence of Tibet. Nehru’s helplessness was an empty excuse….Nehru was in a hurry to make a gift of Tibet to China in the hope that he would acquire a prominent place in the history of the international Communism by favouring a Communist nation. He pooh-poohed the advice on the senior officers in the external affairs ministry by saying that no major challenge to these frontiers is likely in the near future. But as usual, Nehru’s naivety was exposed and a major challenge to the Tibetan border came soon…In September 1962, Corps Commander Umrao Singh of North East Frontier Agency –now Arunachal Pradesh-received the notorious command of Nehru to throw out the Chinese. Umrao Singh pleaded that the equipment at his disposal was meager for such a task and he should be given six months for preparation. Nehru did not heed this and replaced Singh with his favourite B M Kaul. This is only one example of how Nehru had emphatic opinions on matters about which he knew nothing. He once said in Parliament, ‘I wonder how much Prof N G Ranga knows about war.’ Ranga replied, ‘As much as the Prime Minister does.’ On this, Nehru issued himself a certificate, ‘Then you know a good deal.’…Maxwell, the well-known journalist, wrote a book ‘India’s China War’ in which he accused India of starting the war. Maxwell asked the Chinese leaders why they undertook an attack on India on a division scale when they could have easily pushed back the Indians without such a massive attack. The reply he received is best summed up by Felix Bandarnaikes’s report. According to this report, the Chinese wanted to prove that China is one head taller than what India imagined herself to be. liu Xiaoqi said that the chief purpose of their military campaign has been to demolish India’s arrogance and delusions of grandeur. Chou En- lai’s description of Nehru as the most arrogant leader he had ever seen makes obvious that ‘arrogance’ and ‘delusions of grandeur’ are references to Nehru’s poses.”