A History of India, Third Edition

THE REPUBLIC

empire for more than two centuries. But the Indian nationalists did not
want to do that: they did not want to be identified with an imperialist
foreign policy. In fact, one of the first resolutions of the Indian National
Congress of 1885 condemned the contemporary British annexation of
Upper Burma and stressed that India wanted to live in peace with all its
neighbours. This anti-imperialist attitude also determined all later foreign
policy statements of Indian nationalists. Jawaharlal Nehru, who became
the most prominent spokesman of the National Congress with regard to
foreign affairs, added another dimension to this attitude. He saw the
enemy in the capitalist camp of the West and regarded the Soviet Union
and, later, also the People’s Republic of China as harbingers of peace.

Nehru: the international mediator

When Nehru took over the conduct of independent India’s foreign policy
he was influenced by the views adopted in the years of the freedom
movement. Even though Stalin paid little attention to India and initially
thought of Nehru as an agent of British imperialism, Nehru made it a point
to send his sister, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, who had served as a minister in the
days of provincial autonomy, as India’s first ambassador to Moscow in
April 1947 when India was not yet independent. Nehru’s sceptical attitude
to the West was exacerbated by the incipient Cold War and the American
policy of ‘containment’. On the other hand, he also did not share the Soviet
view of the division of the world into ‘two camps’. Independent India did
not want to be put into any ‘camp’. This was not properly appreciated
either in Western or in Eastern Europe, but Nehru could base his foreign
policy on a broad consensus in India.
The conflict with Pakistan, did, of course, constitute a severe handicap
for Nehru’s policy of global mediation and peaceful coexistence. At the
same time it provided an opening for outside powers to interfere with the
affairs of the region. The fact that Pakistan consisted of two wings
separated by more than 1,000 miles of Indian territory meant that Pakistan
would not be able to challenge India seriously; on the other hand, Pakistan
felt that it was at the mercy of India and looked for outside support—this
is why it ended up as a military ally of the United States in 1954. The
Kashmir conflict ruined India’s relations with the United Nations, too,
although India had been an ardent supporter of the idea of the United
Nations all along. The United Nations, bent upon finding a political
solution in Kashmir, sent several representatives—among them
Americans—to Kashmir. From India’s point of view, these delegates tried
to interfere with the internal affairs of the country. Consequently, India
became extremely jealous of its national sovereignty, an attitude which was
at odds with Nehru’s deep concern for other people’s problems in his quest
for world peace.