DARK SHADES

The story of the 1962 war with China has all the elements of a dramatic historical event. Nehru's handling of the crisis and panic reactions were in marked contrast to the cool and confident Kennedy. The generous and prompt response by JFK made him an icon in India. But the US State Department, under pressure from Pakistan and with British support, scuttled the chances of a more lasting India-US alliance, say  Colonel Anil Athale (retd).Nehru's handling of the crisis and panic reactions were in marked contrast to the  cool and confident Kennedy . F or most Indians, the dominant memory of India-United States relations continues to be the presence of the  USS Enterprise  in the Bay of Bengal during the 1971 Bangladesh war. During the 1962 border conflict, it was the US that came to India's rescue and there were plans to send the  USS Kitty Hawk  aircraft carrier to the Bay of Bengal to support India against a possible Chinese invasion. Many of my ge...

Ironically, at a time when the US is said to be helping India emerge as a counter-balance to China, comes evidence that the fading superpower was of little value for New Delhi when it desperately needed help to keep the same China at bay in the 1962 war. While bringing back memories of perhaps the worst humiliation independent India suffered, the disclosure in the US of details of letters written by then PM Jawaharlal Nehru to President John F Kennedy seeking "comprehensive assistance" from the US against China shows the pragmatic dimension of his policy of non-alignment.

World War II had a profound effect on the colonial powers because it completely destroyed their economies. Although Hitler committed crimes against humanity, I give him credit—and not Gandhi—for India’s independence immediately after World War II. Hitler destroyed the economies of Britain and France to such an extent that they were no longer able to financially maintain their military forces, and were hence incapable of containing the burgeoning freedom movements in their colonies. It is worth noting that Britain was in such bad shape that it received about one-fourth of the total aid given under the Marshall Plan. Regardless of Gandhi or any other charismatic leader, Britain would have left India in 1947 purely for financial reasons, due to its wholly collapsed economy. After WWII, Britain left not only India but nearly all its other holdings, including Jordan in 1946, Palestine in 1947, Sri Lanka in 1948, Myanmar in 1948, and Egypt in 1952. For the same reason, France also had to ...

On January 30, 1948, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the Indian nationalist movement and became known around the world for his philosophy of nonviolent resistance, was assassinated at age 78. He was gunned down in New Delhi by a Hindu extremist five months after India gained its independence from British rule. Today, 65 years after his passing, check out some interesting facts about the man referred to as Mahatma (“great soul”) and the father of his country. 1. Gandhi was a teenage newlywed. At 13, Gandhi, whose father was the “diwan,” or chief minister, of a series of small princely states in western India, wed Kasturba Makanji (1869-1944), then also a teen and the daughter of a merchant. It was an arranged marriage, and Gandhi had been engaged to Kasturba since he was seven. The couple went on to have four sons. Even when Gandhi took a vow of celibacy in 1906 for reasons of spirituality, self-discipline and commitment to public service, his wife remained married to him un...

The killer of Gandhiji and his apologists sought to justify the assassination on the following arguments:  Gandhiji supported the idea of a separate state for Muslims. In a sense he was responsible for the creation of Pakistan.  In spite of the Pakistani aggression in Kashmir, Gandhiji fasted to compel the government of India to release an amount of Rs. 55 crores due to Pakistan.  The belligerence of Muslims was a result of Gandhiji's policy of appeasement. Scrutinized in the light of the recorded history these prove to be clever distortions to misguide the gullible. Gandhiji in those days was very active in the rough and tumble of politics. The proposal for partition of the country and violent reaction against it generated tensions which ultimately resulted in sectarian killings on a scale unprecedented in human history. For the ethnic Muslims, Gandhiji was a Hindu leader who opposed creation of Pakistan on sectarian grounds. Ethnic Hindus looked upon him as an impe...

DARK SHADES It was advice Gandhi must now wish he had heeded. New Delhi Herald reporters and photographers were hiding in nearby bushes, guarding both the front and rear entrances. Except for a breath of fresh air at 3 A.M., the women had spent the entire night with the erstwhile spiritual leader. If the chronology was indicting, the photographs were positively damning. Wielding telephoto lenses, the Herald photographers snapped shots that seem sure to snuff out a political career. The scene: Gandhi and his cabal sprawled on his rope bed– naked. Late Sunday morning,  a weary Gandhi  (why was he weary) finally spotted the Herald reporters and confronted them. The women were only there as an experiment in self-restraint, he insisted, and nothing sexual transpired between them. “True brachmacharya (celibacy) is this: one who, by constant-attendance upon God, has become capable of lying naked with naked women, however beautiful they may be, without being in any manner...

According to people who knew the leader well, HE WAS! Mohandas Gandhi may be viewed as a great man, but many don’t know about the famed leader of the Indian revolts’ dark side. In a shocking no holds barred account of a side Gandhi probably didn’t want you to know about, author Joseph Lelyveld reveals the lawyer turned leader led a secret sex life fueled by racism and civil disobedience. The former New York Times executive editor brings us the latest biography of Mohandas Gandhi, titled  Great Soul , where he lays it all out. Here’s what Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Roberts had to say about Gandhi in his review of the new read: “Gandhi was therefore the archetypal 20th-century progressive intellectual, professing his love for mankind as a concept while actually despising people as individuals.” Among the key points in  Great Soul : India’s independence could have been achieved much earlier if Gandhi had not kept abandoning his civil disobedience campaigns at...

Bhimrao Ambedkar was born into poverty, yet he became a lawyer, an author, an educator, and an advocate. He was a dalit (who were then called "untouchables"), yet he rose about the humiliation and discrimination of Indian culture to study the law in England and become a respected attorney. He focused his life on defending the untouchables in India, fighting for their legal rights and trying to put an end to the caste system. He wrote a number of essays and books about social inequality, and he actively promoted the idea that the poor needed better educational opportunities as well as greater respect.  Despite his record of scholarship, his legal colleagues and others in the upper-class of Hindu society refused to treat him as an equal, so he eventually converted to Buddhism, but he never stopped fighting to improve the lives of the poor and the outcasts in India; even though he died in 1956, he is still remembered for his tireless advocacy.

It may surprise many to know that Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar, celebrated as the "Father of Indian Constitution," found economics closest to his heart and got his doctorate for a thesis on "The Problem of the Rupee". He was a Professor of Economics in Mumbai’s Sydenham College in the early 1930s. Ambedkar strongly believed that the fundamental cause of India’s backward economy was the delay in changing the land system. The remedy was democratic collectivism that entailed economic efficiency, productivity and overhauling the village economy, he wrote. This, he said, would wipe out elements of economic exploitation and social injustice. He did not want landlords, tenants, or landless labour. His idea of economic realism sought both freedom and welfare. The essential feature of his approach to economic problems was the condemnation of such extreme views as laissez-faire and scientific socialism. Mixed economy was the cornerstone of his economic ideas. He advocated an ...

he slow peeling of the onion around the involvement of Hindu militants  in the Malegaon and Modasa bomb blasts  last month in the western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat in September has shown a murky network of religious radicals that may have both implications for India’s politics as well as its anti-terrorist policies. For years,  bombs in India have mostly been blamed on Islamist militants.  Even attacks on mosques were often blamed on Islamists seeking to spark communal tensions between India’s majority Hindus and minority Muslims. Both national and international press  have focused on the growing Indian-born Islamist militants who are trying to attack the Indian state. A widespread crackdown on suspected Islamist militants following the bomb attacks this year that killed scores of people in several Indian cities led Muslim leaders  to accuse authorities of conducting a witch hunt  and reinforcing stereotypes about their c...

In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided By Walter R. Echo-Hawk 560 pages, hardcover: $35. Fulcrum Publishing, 2010. In a new book, attorney and author Walter Echo-Hawk explores the contradictions embedded in U.S. Indian law. The nation's justice system was originally created by a colonial power intent on possessing -- and exploiting -- the rich lands of the Americas. During a lecture at Phoenix's Heard Museum in September, Echo-Hawk, a Pawnee and cousin of Larry Echo-Hawk (the head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs) and John Echo-Hawk (director of the Native American Rights Fund), talked about  In the Courts of the Conqueror: The 10 Worst Indian Law Cases Ever Decided . He also voiced his hopes for future jurisprudence in America's highest court. Echo-Hawk noted that "there are underlying forces at work in the legal system, the ‘dark side' of law." Most Americans view the courtroom as a place where justice is dealt fairly to...

New Delhi: One is facing a murder charge, another has been arrested for abduction, while a third is fighting a robbery case. Welcome to India's general election, where nearly a fifth of the 5,500 candidates face criminal charges. The Indian Constitution allows politicians facing criminal cases to contest polls, and critics say mafia dons and corrupt regional bosses are using their money and power to garner votes. Fear and reverence for politicians facing criminal charges play heavily in the minds of voters in India. These candidates sometimes control large areas where state facilities are lacking. In some places, they play the role of "Robin Hood", fixing low charges for services such as doctors' fees. Experts say it reflects how corruption and politics have co-existed in India for decades. The dark side of the world's biggest democracy Reuters Published: May 01, 2009, 22:51 "Criminals see this as a business opportunity to make money and gain a foothold in po...