[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he explosive Top Secret Henderson Brooks report which gives the detailed account of India’s military debacle in 1962 war with China and flawed policies of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru has been released online by Australian journalist Neville Maxwell.
It comes at a time when India is facing Lok sabha elections and the Congress image is at an all time low because of the corruption scandals. It would appear that it is the last nail in the Congress coffin as it provides enough cannon fodder for the BJP and prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to attack Congress and the Gandhi dynasty The report said the most significant reason of India’s defeat is that the political leadership of that time failed India. It was not Chinese betrayal, but then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Defence Minister V K Krishna Menon’s arrogant belief that they would solve the crisis through diplomacy and that China would not dare attack India despite the latter’s ‘Forward Policy’.
The report was authored by Lieutenant General Henderson Brooks and Brigadier P S Bhagat, then commandant of the Indian Military Academy, soon after the war. It was commissioned by Lt General J N Chaudhuri who had just taken over as chief of Army staff in 1962.Neville Maxwell was The Times’ South Asia correspondent for eight years from 1959 and during his tenure in New Delhi, had the opportunity to see the India-China border dispute from the Indian side.
Critics such as Major General Sheru Thapliyal have stated that perhaps it was the lack of understanding of real politics that was responsible for the humiliating debacle in 1962, a trauma that continues to haunt many in India. He argues that the sequence of events leading up to the War cannot be overlooked.
“When the Chinese People’s Republic came into being on 1st October, 1949,India was among the first and very few countries to recognise it. In Nehru’s worldview, these two Asian giants could together start a new Asian era. Indeed, at that time, no differences existed between the two countries, which could lead to hostility. However, that did not take into account the devious and complex Chinese mind, which even at that early stage had rationalised that only one of the two countries could be an Asian power. It was China’s goal to see that India remained confined to South Asia. Pandit Nehru, who was both the Prime Minister as well as External Affairs Minister, could not read the Chinese intention. His colleagues in the Congress party, although men of stature themselves, were content to leave foreign policy solely in Nehru’s hands, which proved detrimental to national interests.
The first sign of discord between India and China came in 1950 when Chinai nvaded Tibet. This was blatant aggression as historically, Tibet has never been a part of China. The Tibetans looked up to India for help but India’s feeble protest merely antagonised the Chinese without helping the Tibetans.India now had to contend with China on its Northern and Eastern border. Though not demarcated, these borders were well defined by various treaties and usage right from seventeenth century. Opportunities to negotiate a border settlement in the fifties existed, but were not seized. India entered into the Panchsheel Agreement with China in 1954, hoping to put an end to Chinese provocations but that was not to be. On the contrary, China illegally occupied the Aksai Chin and completed construction of their Western Highway through it in 1957. To counter continued Chinese aggression, India embarked on a policy of establishing a series of small posts all along its Northern and Eastern borders with China, to prevent further incursions. Called the ‘Forward policy’, most posts were not capable of giving a fight to the Chinese and were logistically unsustainable. Coupled with this, India neglected the improvement of infrastructure in the border areas, which was to cost the country dear when the conflict started in 1962.
Around 1959-60, the Army was ill prepared to fight a war with China, but the army leadership still went along with the disastrous Forward Policy”.
While there will no doubt be ‘some ‘political fall out with the release of this report it remains to be seen just how much BJP will gain with the same. The Northeast continues to remain for a large part of India a remote and dismembered part of the Indian Union, with many ‘Indians’ unaware of the traditions, custom and traditions of the people.
The recent death of Nido Tania in the nation’s capital is a classic case showing just how disconnected the region is with the rest of the country and for the BJP to use the Indo- China debacle is unlikely to pull heartstrings even at the upcoming BIG FIGHT in Varanasi, India’s Hindu heartland on March 23rd.
But what is of intense interest is the timing of the report coming as it does in the face of the Ukraine and Russian standoff over Crimea.
Even as news of the annexation of Crimea to Russia by the brazen show of military strength displayed by Russian President Vladimir Putin there is news of Chinese troops along the India – China border in Chumar, located 300kms east of Leh attempting to cross over. Reports state that said nine PLA soldiers first reached Chumar.
On March 16, 2014 and were stopped by the jawans which was followed by customary banner drill.Chinese troops made a fresh attempt to violate the border with India in Chumar area in Ladakh on Sunday and retreated only after ITBP and Army jawans formed a human wall to block their incursion bid.
However, in no time 10 more PLA personnel arrived on the scene riding horses and joined their colleagues to make attempts to move ahead into the Indian territory.
Chinese troops made repeated assertions that it was their territory and they were headed towards to Tible area, 5 km deep into the Indian territory, the sources said.
Explaining their action, the troops told the Indian jawans that they were ordered by the PLA headquarters to conduct a reconnaissance in Tible area, the sources added.
However, more Indian troops joined in and Chinese troops made a retreat by 9 a.m. the same day, the sources said.
Is China capable of attempting a Russian style Crimea walkover in Ukraine? When the United Nations Security Council took a vote on the Russian stand on Crimea, China abstained from putting its vote while Russia as expected, exercised veto power on the subject.
Today the Russian President Putin spoke to the Indian Prime Minister explaining Russian stand of Crimea and Ukraine. PM Man Mohan Singh only had two points to deliver. “No force should be used” and “the territorial integrity” of nations should be upheld.
In the growing signs of a cold war between Russia,Europe and the Western nations,the clash of interest between India and China the two growing Asian powers is also inevitable.
The key to peace will be to keep it manageable and not allow a flare up into another border war.
