Villain of the Piece

Villain: Nehru
The Piece: India's post-independence downfall.

Rajeev Srinivasan's article on rediff asking India to quit the UN is food-for-thought. Though I can't agree more with the points outlined by Rajeev what caught my eye was the bungling of the Greatest Bungler of All, Yup! nemma Nehru. Quoting from the article:


It is true that India made a colossal blunder in turning down a Security Council seat when it was offered to it on a platter in the 1950s. The original P-5 were the US, the UK, France, the Soviet Union, and Taiwan. Given that Taiwan didn't control much of China, and 'Red China' was out of favour with everybody, there was a proposal to give an 'Asian' seat to India. Here is what transpired then, according to official records.

The word that stood out for me from the para was platter. The term on-a-platter has almost ceased to exist for most in today's chaotic world. So, the bungler had let go off one more opportunity for India to have become a super power. Behold, our bungler had a reason to do so. If you haven't guessed it by now, its China, my fellow countrymen. To quote again from the article:

" From the Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Series II, Volume 29, Minutes of meeting with Soviet Leaders, Moscow, 22 June 1955, page 231, here are the minutes of the conversation between Jawaharlal Nehru and Soviet Premier Marshal Bulganin, as quoted in Claude Arpi's Born in Sin: The Panchsheel Agreement (Mittal Publications, Delhi, 2004, ISBN 81-7099-974-X):

'Bulganin: While we are discussing the general international situation and reducing tension, we propose suggesting at a later stage India's inclusion as the sixth member of the Security Council.

Nehru: Perhaps Bulganin knows that some people in the USA have suggested that India should replace China in the Security Council. This is to create trouble between us and China. We are, of course, wholly opposed to it. Further, we are opposed to pushing ourselves forward to occupy certain positions because that may itself create difficulties and India might itself become a subject of controversy. If India is to be admitted to the Security Council it raises the question of the revision of the Charter of the UN. We feel that this should not be done till the question of China's admission and possibly of others is first solved. I feel that we should first concentrate on getting China admitted.' "

No wonder China showed its gratitude for getting itself admitted into the security council, with veto power at the expense of India, with the war of 1962.

Nehru is the epitome of an example as to how one man's short sightedness can plummet a country to depths from which it will take centuries to recover.