Seminar on 60th martyrdom day of Dr SP Mookerjee
“The country is paying for a series of foreign policy mistakes done by Nehru’s government in the initial years. The mistakes in international policies take generations to rectify. In 1949, when China was busy organising its internal security and securing its borders, India, under Nehru, was busy in trying to gain world acceptability. Such an attitude made us neglect our border management,” said former Union Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh while participating in a discussion on “Threats to India’s Identity and National Security”. The discussion was organised by Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation, New Delhi on June 25 to pay tribute to Dr Mookerjee on his 60th martyrdom day.
Shri Singh recalled that the Committee instituted by NDA to review the Kargil war had pointed out that from 1947 to 2002 India had no precise knowledge of its island territories. It was the NDA, which instituted the Andaman command. Criticising the conduct of India’s present foreign policy, he argued how it has allowed our relations with Sri Lanka to deteriorate.
Former Governor of Jammu & Kashmir Lt Gen SK Sinha identified Pakistan, China and the Maoist menace as three major security challenges to India. He recommended that India should work towards having a friendly government in Afghanistan. On China, he argued that India needed to challenge and break out of the string of pearls strategy of encirclement. On the Maoist threat, Gen Sinha argued for making a coordinated strategy at the Central level in cooperation with the States.
Former Director of Intelligence Bureau Shri Ajit Doval pointed out that half of India today was affected by internal security disturbances. Defining Indian nationhood in terms of civilisational identity Shri Doval said how this Indian identity existed for thousands of years and how disruptive forces were trying to subvert it today.
BJP organizing secretary Shri Ramlal enumerated the plethora of security threats to the country and said each required to be studied in depth, particularly the increasing cyber threat to India. BJP national secretary Shyam Jaju and secretary of the Foundation Arun Singh also spoke on the occasion.—Bureau Report
