India After the Soviet Tour
BHARGAVA, C. S.
U.S. must help Indian democracy despite Nehru's antics India After the Soviet Tour By G. S. Bhargava New Delhi "It will be almost impossible now to get Congress to vote more aid to India,"...
...aid providing a forum for savage Soviet attacks on the United States...
...If the situation had been reversed, and America had entertained the leaders of Pakistan, Portugal or South Africa while they hurled invectives at India, we in India would have reacted in the same way...
...The soil was fertile, for the forgetful and uninformed Asian peoples had already largely forgotten and forgiven the Communists' postwar behavior in Europe and Asia, while American relations with Asian countries had, for a variety of reasons, lost the warmth of 1950...
...At the same time, the change of administration in Washington in 1953 produced much official criticism of Nehru...
...The Soviet party boss knew how piqued American public opinion would be by the welcome he had received and by Indian officialdom's tacit acquiescence in his tirades...
...Yet, there were other reasons for the reception extended to Khrushchev and Bulganin...
...However much Nehru's policies may at times irk her, America must not abandon her efforts to win the friendship of the Indian people...
...At the same time, she must not feel that this overarching objective requires uncritical praise of every move that Nehru makes, with the interests of India's millions merely a secondary consideration...
...Shrewdly exploiting this, Moscow and Peking offer friendship within the framework of Indian neutrality-which pleases the leaders of India greatly...
...Commenting on the welcoming demonstration, Indian newspapermen proudly reported that the Soviet guests had been greatly impressed by Nehru's immense popularity and obvious hold on the masses...
...There is, of course, another side to the coin...
...Overwhelmed by the ovation, Nehru decided that young India should follow the Russian example...
...Last spring, when Nehru and Chinese Premier Chou En-lai arrived in Bandung for the Asian-African Conference, they were met by thousands of cheering, flag-waving children mobilized by Indonesian Prime Minister Ali Sastroamidjojo...
...The main purpose of the Khrushchev-Bulganin pilgrimage to India and Burma was precisely that of isolating the West, particularly America, from those "uncommitted" nations, of sowing seeds of estrangement between natural friends...
...You are therefore requested to depute as many children as possible to witness the show along with the members of the staff...
...Khrushchev signalized this new campaign on the fourth day of his Indian visit, when he belabored Britain and America in old-time Communist style and then ironically dared the West to compete with Russia for India's friendship...
...One may well ask why America should continue to act in a generous, statesmanlike manner when India's actions frequently make it so difficult...
...Nehru was overwhelmed...
...One thing which particularly touched Nehru on his visit to China last year was the preponderance of children among the welcoming throngs...
...It would force India to rely entirely on Soviet bounty, when even the most ardent Russophiles in the Indian Government are highly skeptical about Moscow's intention or ability to make good on her extravagant promises...
...However, the Russians, whom Washington can never hope to match in high-pressure propaganda techniques, ultimately launched their own campaign to woo Nehru, and the voice of America was soon drowned in a flood of honeyed words from Moscow, Peking and the satellite capitals...
...Indeed, it is natural that American taxpayers should feel resentful when they see the recipients of U.S...
...The Prime Minister has kindly agreed to grace the occasion with his presence...
...Nehru personally felt that his popularity and stature would be judged on the basis of the crowds he could bring out...
...just recently, an Indian official tactlessly remarked that the Western nations would soon get over their resentment at Soviet-Indian fraternization and that there would be an East-West race to aid India's economic development...
...I am to inform you," stated a new Directorate of Education circular, "that 10,000 children (list attached) will receive the Prime Minister of Russia, Marshal Bulganin, and the members of his party when they arrive in the capital on the 18th November, 1955...
...America's failure to be magnanimous in the face of provocation would seem worse than Russia's failure to keep her pledged word...
...They approve the frequently high-handed measures which Nehru and the Congress party take against local Communists, and cheered when the Communists were beaten with their own methods in last spring's Andhra state elections...
...Indians who professed the Marxist creed were outdated doctrinaires, he now felt, but this did not apply to the leaders of world Communism, who had suddenly become alive to his greatness...
...Chester Bowles, who was unquestionably the most popular Ambassador America has yet sent to New Delhi, initiated this policy...
...Moreover, it must seem to Washington officials as though India is currently exploiting the Russian bogeyman to wring more aid out of them...
...Four days after Nehru's birthday, the children's crusade was resumed in honor of the visitors from Moscow...
...and, since Nehru was by now regarded as synonymous with Indian democracy, this criticism was often extended to the entire nation...
...The Directorate of Education in New Delhi issued a circular letter to the heads of all educational institutions, reading: "The 66th birthday of Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India, will be celebrated on November 14, 1955 by the children of Delhi State at the National Stadium, India Gate, New Delhi...
...Moreover, Indian election law forbids the use of children for propaganda and demonstrations, and, since Nehru is chief of the Congress party, this should apply to his "birthday celebrations...
...During the alleged heyday of Indian-American friendship a few years ago, American diplomats here made eulogies of Nehru as much a part of their daily routine as the Hindu's morning prayer...
...It was the same last summer when Nehru visited Russia: children everywhere, offering bouquets, waving flags and shouting slogans...
...As a result, thwarted in their development programs, the Indians would turn not against the Soviet Union but against the United States...
...His aim was to fan the flames of American resentment and thus make it as difficult as possible for Washington to win public support for continued aid to India...
...The Bowles school of thought tends to discourage any criticism of Nehru, even when the Prime Minister backs the police in firing on unarmed students...
...Under the circumstances, suspension or curtailment of American aid, or any other retaliatory move on the lines of the Dulles-Cunha communique on Goa, would mean walking straight into the Soviet trap...
...Significantly, no such celebration had marked the birthday, the previous December 3, of President Rajendra Prasad, head of the Indian state...
...It would be unwise for America to continue identifying 360 million Indians with the man who currently wields power over them...
...Yet, once the first wave of emotion passes, every mature American will surely recognize the folly of a policy of retaliation against India...
...must help Indian democracy despite Nehru's antics India After the Soviet Tour By G. S. Bhargava New Delhi "It will be almost impossible now to get Congress to vote more aid to India," commented one American on the tumultuous welcome accorded Soviet leaders Khrushchev and Bulganin on their visit here...
...Considerations of hospitality, national pride, and the inferiority complex of India's leaders played a role...
...Yet, in spite of all this, America must not allow irritation over the Khrushchev-Bulganin junket to deflect her from her basic aims in India...
...Congress party leaders and local state chiefs vied with one another to produce big turnouts, some even joining hands with the Communists...
...Nehru's birthday last November 14 provided the first opportunity to test the new technique...
...Most Indians believed that Indian failure to match the reception Nehru received in Russia would damage India's status...
...There was also the desire of the dominant Congress party to take the wind out of the local Communists' sails by gaining the good will of their bosses from the Soviet Union...
...Even the childish term of endearment, Cha cha (Uncle) Nehru, had preceded the Indian leader to the USSR...
...The Prime Minister of India could thus bracket himself with the equally popular Prime Minister of Russia in the official welcoming slogan: "Long live the fighters for peace, Bulganin and Nehru...
...American criticism, unfortunately, tended to be directed against Indian neutrality, part of her very fabric in these first precarious years of independence...
...Thus, Nehru showed that he was as powerful as the Chinese and Russian leaders by turning out as many children as they had...
Vol. 38 • December 1955 • No. 51
