Vol. X, No. 26 Delhi; March 4, 1957 Price : -/4/-
The four-power resolution is perilously like ‘collective aggression’ or ‘collective approval of aggression’. It is our sacred principle not to let any foreign troops on our sacred soil. The big powers have adopted an attitude of deliberate hostility. We have been forced to buy arms and go slow with economic development. India is living in a hostile world. India must give a fitting reply to the world with a strong and united voice. The people must support the Congress, which is the only organisation the country representing the united strength of the people of India.”
This is the gist of Pt Nehru’s speeches in Hyderabad, Trichu and elsewhere, in his own worlds. The true, the not-so-true and the irrelevant have been so woven together that it will be difficult for the layman to separate the one from the others. We thought the Prime Minister would abide by his own word, and not make an election issue of Kashmir. Kashmir is a national issue, and the PM has done little justice to the country by trying to make party capital out of it. However, may we ask, how a vote against the Congress would weaken our stand on Kashmir?
Is it True? According to a report published in the Urdu Pratap and Hindi Veer Arjun (Feb. 28) New Delhi, bundles of ballot paper are circulating in Congress circles in the capital. According to these reports a certain gentleman visited the Pratap-Veer Arjun offices at about 3 PM on February 27. He handed in an envelope. On its being opened a bundle of 100 ballot papers was found inside. The visitor further revealed that such bundles were moving freely in Congress circles. |
The strength of our Kashmir policy is hardly related to the bigness of Congress majority. If anything, such a majority may only make it possible for Pt Nehru to launch himself on a fresh round of bungles in Kashmir. We do not see why we should entertain the Security Council debate on Kashmir.
Simultaneously the Jammu and Kashmir State should be fully and finally integrated with the rest of the country, and the oddity of “Ek Desh Men Do Vidhan, Ek Desh Men do Nishan, Ek Desh Men Do Pradhan” be finally ended.
Also we should have no dealing with Pakistan until and unless it vacates Poonch, Gilgit, Hunza and other parts of our Kashmir occupied by it. It is senseless to trade cement, Steel, coal, electricity and irrigation water with Pakistan while it illegally occupies part of our territory, and prepares to war for more. What Pt Nehru needs is more vim and vigour and not more votes. He already has more votes than he knows what to do with.
However, some of the statements made by the Prime Minister deserve the closest attention. He said we have had to divert funds from development to defence. This raises a few questions. In the first instance this is an advance warning that the Second Plan is in the melting pot. The US-Pak pact is two years old now. May we know why the Plan was not drafted in the light of
this pact?
The big powers are not very friendly. This is true. But there they are. We cannot wish them out of existence. The question arises: how does the PM propose to deal with them? USA has been irked by Pt Nehru talking to it more as an ambassador of China than as the Prime Minister of Bharat. The Anglo-Americans are today beating us with stick which Pt Nehru put in their hands.
Even more revealing is the action of Egypt. We abused—and antagonized—the Anglo-French, in support of Egypt. But to this day Col. Nasser has not uttered one word in support of our stand in Kashmir!
Obviously something is seriously wrong with the Government of India, and the conduct of its foreign policy. We do not see how Pt. Nehru proposes to meet the coldness of small powers, the hostility of big powers, and the atomic artillery of Pakistan, with votes and still more votes. Big noise is no substitute for a sound policy.
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