Has PM Modi Helped Congress Bury Ghost Of 1962 Nehruvian Blunder?

Prime Minister Narendra Modi seldom gives a quarter to his political opponents in rhetoric. Yet, over the past weeks, since trespassing Chinese soldiers killed 20 of our jawans in Ladakh바카라�s Galwan Valley on June 15, the PM has given an inch and the Congress is having a field day. The trigger was a single statement on June 19. At the all-party meeting after the Galwan deaths, Modi said there had been 바카라�no intrusion into Indian territory, nor any Indian post under control of a foreign country바카라�. Did he mean India had given up its claim on the Galwan valley to China? The opposition parties and retired army officers questioned. The PMO clarified later that the PM meant to say there was no intrusion on Indian soil at the time of the meeting.

An overarching sentiment reflected in the Congress바카라�s attacks on Modi in the backdrop of this raging crisis has been, 바카라�Nehru at least put up a fight바카라�. For the 58 years that have passed since the country바카라�s chastising defeat in the 1962 Sino-Indian War, the failure of Jawaharlal Nehru in deciphering China바카라�s expansionist intent had rendered the Congress unqualified in critiquing any non-Congress government over the China policy. It is ironical that Nehru, who presided over India바카라�s loss of Aksai Chin to China, has now helped the Congress rediscover its aggression against Modi바카라�s handling of Chinese intrusions.

바카라�The 1962 war happened just 14 years after we gained independence. We were a poor country and our military capabilities were still being built, but when China betrayed India바카라�s trust and threatened our territorial integrity, Nehru decided to fight back. Then within five years, India avenged the def­eat in 1967 by pushing back China from the kingdom of Sikkim and which later joined our republic,바카라� says Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera. 바카라�What has Modi done in Galwan valley today? He says there is no Chinese int­rusion after 20 of our armymen were martyred; he allows China to claim the entire Galwan valley as its territory and even refuses to name China as the aggressor바카라�.

There is no denying that Nehru바카라�s conviction that the Chinese Communist Party leadership바카라�chairman Mao Zedong and premier Zhou Enlai바카라�would never attack proved disastrous for India. In the wake of the current Indo-China crisis and also the 72-day standoff between the two countries in Doklam in 2017, it is worth asking whether Modi바카라�s public bonhomie with Chinese premier Xi Jinping is a case of déjà vu from the Nehruvian-era.

K. Natwar Singh, a former Indian diplomat who worked in China in 1958 and later as India바카라�s foreign minister, says: 바카라�Nehru handled China badly bec­ause he took an emotional view of Sino-Indian relations바카라�the 1962 war was a disaster for India and only two people were responsible for it, Nehru and V.K. Krishna Menon (then defence minister). What we are now witnessing an aggression on a small scale but, like in 1962, we have responded later than we should have and Modi바카라�s statement about no Chinese incursions makes his handling of the crisis seem worse than Nehru바카라�s response in 1962.바카라�

Singh also makes an important distinction between Nehru and Modi with regard to how the two prime ministers addressed the Chinese crisis before the public. 바카라�Knowing full well that he will be lambasted for the crisis, Nehru had convened a special session of the Parliament during the 1962 war and never tried to hide the facts from the press. Today, using the excuse of COVID-19, the Parliament is not being convened but it baffles me that Modi has not even addressed a press conference to clear the air on the standoff,바카라� he says.

The Congress is not amused at Modi바카라�s refusal to address an open presser바카라�he hasn바카라�t done so ever since he became PM in May 2014바카라�but the party feels that the least he could do was to address questions raised in the public dom­ain by the Opposition and several military experts. 바카라�The Congress president had raised several questions about the Ladakh situation at the all-party meeting convened by Modi but he didn바카라�t answer any of them. Thereafter, we have regularly put out questions through the media. Why is Modi so scared of answering these questions? Does the nation not have the right to know whether China has taken over our territory or not, whether our army can patrol the areas in Galwan today which they were pat­rolling before April 2020,바카라� Congress media cell chief Randeep Surjewala tells Outlook.

Amid the Congress바카라�s rediscovery of Nehru, Natwar Singh points at one 바카라�surprising exclusion바카라� in his former party바카라�s tirade on the India-China crisis. 바카라�It is fine for the Congress to say that Nehru put up a fight and Modi didn바카라�t but I wonder why no one is talking about Rajiv Gandhi바카라�s contribution to rebuilding India바카라�s relationship with China in 1988 and how those gains have been undone now,바카라� Singh says.

Singh recalls his visit to China with Rajiv Gandhi, then prime minister, in 1988. 바카라�Rajiv was the first Indian PM to set foot in Beijing since the late 1950s. The camaraderie that Rajiv struck with Deng Xiaoping helped successive Indian governments to maintain cordial relations with China through treaties like the 1993 Peace and Tranquility Agreement. Between 1988 and June 2020, not a single bullet was fired on the Sino-India border by either force. Today, that truce has been shattered des­pite Modi바카라�s frequent meetings with Xi Jinping. The Congress should be asking why this happened바카라�.

The Congress, says Singh, must not draw parallels between the 1962 war and the present crisis because 바카라�to put it very mildly, the Chinese gave us a licking back then바카라�. Nonetheless, with most defence and diplomatic experts nearly unanimous about no early possibility of a de-escalation of tensions between India and China, the war of words bet­ween the Congress and BJP on Modi바카라�s handling of the crisis is expected to get worse. Can Modi defeat Nehru in this new face-off? Or will the Congress be resurrected by the former prime minister who died 56 years ago?