132 recognition without relationsForeign Ministry’s director general to India. There were some misgivings
as to how Prime Minister Nehru would receive and respond to such a
proposal. Israel broached the idea with the Indian ambassador in New
York, B. N. Rau, who in turn conveyed it to New Delhi. Rau quickly se-
cured the necessary clearance, with late February 1952 as the suitable
meeting time.^147 Things began to move swiftly. Israel made a formal re-
quest for Walter Eytan’s visit with Prime Minister Ben- Gurion, who was
then the acting foreign minister, writing to his Indian counterpart.
Nehru quickly extended an offi cial invitation.^148 Eytan reached New Delhi
on February 28 and spent a full week in India before leaving for home on
March 7. For logistical reasons, he made a long stopover in Karachi both
into and out of New Delhi. A closer look at his thirteen- page “New Delhi
Diary” clearly indicates that the exchange of diplomatic missions was a
foregone conclusion.^149
During his stay, Eytan met a host of diplomats, public fi gures, and
others, including President Rajendra Prasad, Nehru’s daughter and fu-
ture prime minister Indira Gandhi, Foreign Ministry Secretary- General
G. S. Bajpai, Foreign Secretary K. P. S. Menon Sr., Commonwealth Secre-
tary R. K. Nehru, Nehru’s sister and India’s ambassador in Washington
Vijayalakshmi Pandit, Minister of Rehabilitation A. P. Jain, and the secre-
tary of the Food and Agriculture Ministry and the secretary of the Indian
Council of World Aff airs, A. Appadorai. In short, the Israeli visitor met
all those who mattered in the Indian capital. The culmination of his visit
was a lunch with the prime minister on March 4, 1952, where Nehru ex-
plicitly referred to the domestic Muslim factor as a major concern but
added that as soon as the newly elected government assumed offi ce, the
issue of normalization would be put before the cabinet and a positive de-
cision would be available in about two months’ time.
Walter Eytan was satisfi ed that the Indian bureaucracy was favorably
disposed toward full diplomatic ties with Israel. R. K. Nehru, the Com-
monwealth secretary and a distant cousin of the prime minister, was the
sole exception. During the visit, there were discussions about the level of
diplomatic repre sen ta tion, and Prime Minister Nehru felt that the open-
ing of legations should be reciprocal. Furthermore, an offi cial in the
ministry was asked to prepare the bud get and other fi nancial details for a
resident Indian mission in Tel Aviv.^150 In March 1953, an Israeli diplomat
updated Eytan on the normalization front: “(1) The decision to establish
relations with Israel is still valid; (2) India’s Muslim minority has noth-
ing to do with the delay in the establishment of relations; (3) The main