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...