Shri Guruji Golwalkar on China (Part III): Friends, Enemies and the Chinese Puzzle

Some people mistake such frank and friendly warnings to our worthy Prime Minister as indicating want of love and respect for him. They are totally wrong. They seem to identify respect with flattery. We respect the Prime Minister and regard him as a great world figure, but we cannot flatter him, or accept him as infallible. That would not also be fair to him. The Communists and such others shout form housetops that we must all strengthen Nehru’s hands. Obviously, it is to flatter him and serve their own ulterior ends.

But we say, let us strengthen Nehru’s heart. If we do that, we will have automatically strengthened his hands. ‘Personality cult’ is not only foreign to our culture and tradition but will also do infinite damage to national interests. During the Third Battle of Panipat, at one point Sadashivrao Bhau, the Chief Commander of the Hindu forces, changed his seat from an elephant to a horse. The soldiers, failing to see him, thought him dead, got demoralised and broke up. That was because the person of Sadashivrao was the sole point of inspiration and guidance for the army. On the other hand, for twenty years after Shivaji, Maharashtra did not have any acknowledged leader. Sambhaji had been caught, tortured and murdered. Shahu was in Moghul detention. Rajaram was besieged and isolated in Jinji. But everyone fought the war as if the spirit of Swaraj and Shivaji was reborn in him. It became truly a people’s war. After twenty years of fighting with them Aurangzeb died, defeated and broken-hearted. Such is the world of difference between personality cult and dedication to an ideal.

Thirdly, we should be keenly on the alert about the threat from inside our own country. There are, as we know, quite a number of persons amidst us who welcome Chinese aggression. To them the Chinese are the godfathers and the Chinese army is a ‘liberation army’. Some of their top men have openly declared that it is Bharat and not China that is the aggressor. Even now the Communists are carrying on virulent propaganda in the border areas that Bhagawan Sri Krishna has descended on earth in the form of Chou EnIai to establish ‘Dharmarajya’ here! They have also collected funds and told the people to preserve the receipt and show them to Chinese when they come so that they will be recoganised as friends. Such a party has been given a clean chit by our Prime Minister as being cent per cent nationalist!

There has been a report that the Communists have tried to indulge in sabotage in Assam. They may try to do the same in various other parts of the country. But strangely enough, they are not kept under strict watch and control. On the other hand, our Government and our people seem to be taken in by their strategy. It is said there is a split in the Communists Party, with pro-Peking and pro-Moscow groups (mind, there is no proBharat group!) bitterly opposed to each other. No one who knows even a bit of the Communist technique will ever believe in that myth. The so-called split is only a trick to dupe the people. Their plan is that one group should bolster up the Prime Minister and his policies so that they can worm themselves into the confidence of the people in general, and behind that mask the other group in secret should go in for collecting arms and getting trained in guerrilla warfare so that in the course of a few months they may be ready to rise in revolt throughout the country, particularly in Assam and Bengal, to break the administration and thus make it easy for the Chinese to run over the entire country. This is actually being done. Training in guerrilla warfare is being given.

This gives us the clue to the reason behind the sudden and unexpected cease-fire of the Chinese. They have declared cease-fire when they were actually victorious and thus startled the whole world. A great and amazing feat it was, the victor should voluntarily stop fighting and make a very generous gesture of peace! One theory is that the Chinese imagined that the people of this country so fond of quarreling with one another, would continue their quarrels and dissensions as heretofore and that they (Chinese) would be able to exploit them to conquer the country easily. But to their surprise they found that the whole of the country rose as one man with a grim resolve to throw out the aggressor. This was unexpected to the Chinese. Therefore they thought better of it and discontinued their aggression.

A second theory is that the Chinese did not expect that arms, ammunitions and other types of military help could be flown to Bharat from America and other friendly countries in so short a while. As a matter of fact, we must deeply appreciate the alacrity and efficiency with which American aid was rushed to us. This also took the Chinese aback, and fearing a smashing counter-attack, they desisted form making any further advance.

Some, who are out to praise everything that is Chinese or Russian, say that the Chinese came only to establish their right over the territory, which they claimed to be theirs. They have not accepted the McMohan Line. They say that the actual border is somewhere more to the south. They came up to the border, which they considered to be the right one.

In a way they expressed their right and went back. This is giving the Chinese quite an amount of credit.

However, one fact has been ignored. Sychronising with the aggression of the Chinese, there was a plan for an uprising by the Communist Party in Bengal. It was to create such wide disturbances that administration would break down, chaos would prevail and the Chinese would be able to take advantage of it to establish themselves from the Himalayas to Calcutta securely. Somehow this plan miscarried. Either because the Communists were not ready, or their hearts failed them at the eleventh hour, or probably because the people became very alert and antagonistic to them, they had no courage to step forward to execute that plan. Whatever the reason, the fact is that they would not, and therefore did not, act up to the expectations of the aggressive Chinese forces. As their plan misfired the Chinese thought they should wait for a more favourable opportunity, and they have therefore discontinued the aggression for the time being. When we piece together this fact with the present strategy of the Communists here, we get a fairly correct and lurid picture of the volcanic menace that is simmering underneath the apparently calm surface of the present Chinese cease-fire.

The other danger spot in our internal set-up is the powerful Pakistani fifth column entrenched in strategic points all over the country. Various types of lethal weapons are being distributed among the Muslims in the border areas. Probably, they feel that this is a golden opportunity for them to revolt, to bring our leaders to their knees and force them to part with another chunk of land as before. As a matter of fact, when the Chinese overran post after post in NEFA area, the Pakistani elements all over the country were jubilant. They used to exclaim, “You are well served”! They are especially emboldened because of the recent unholy Pak-China alliance. When the people and even the Government officers were vacating Tejpur and other areas, the Muslims alone stayed there saying that a secret understanding had been reached between China and Pakistan to partition Assam between themselves-the northern portion going to China and the southern portion to Pakistan – and that therefore they were safe. They were fully roused to the frenzy of 1946-47. They raised slogans of ‘Pakistan Zindabad’, and ‘Smiling we got Pakistan, fighting we shall take Hindusthan’.

They pillaged and looted the vacated Hindu houses and shops. So, it is the duty of all citizens including the well-meaning Muslims to specially beware that such fifth column elements are held in check right from the start and do not get a chance to disturb internal peace and order which is an absolute prerequisite for building up our defences.

The one guiding principle while dealing with all such subversive elements is to treat them on par with the enemy and put them down with an iron hand. There is an extremely instructive episode in the Mahabharata. When King Janamejaya performs the Sarpayaga (serpent sacrifice ) in revenge for the killing of his father Parikshit by the serpent Takshaka, Takshaka flees and seeks asylum with Indra. Then Janamejaya proceeds to bring down Indra also along with Takshaka into all-consuming fire saying

Lsanzk; r{kdk; Lokgk

Such unsparing measures alone will put fear into the hearts of potential agents and allies of the enemy and make them behave as loyal citizens.

Then we have to consider, especially in the present context, our relations with the neighbouring countries. Here we have to be aware of one factor. When we are in a difficult situation like this, Pakistan-which according to Pandit Nehru was born in hatred and bloodshed-is likely to bully us. And there is also a possibility that our leaders may give more and more in a bid to placate it and make a compromise over Kashmir. Raja and Jayaprakash Narayan have even canvassed that peace must be made with Pakistan at all costs, even by parting with Kashmir if necessary, so as to forge a joint front against China. But will it solve the problem? What does the past history of those elements tell us? Countless were the experiments made to ‘win their hearts’ by patting their backs and showering concessions upon them. Finally we even gave them parts of our motherland.

Even then they were not satisfied. They attacked Kashmir. To please them we gave onethird of Kashmir. We also gave them the waters of canals built at our cost. Over and above it, we gave them nearly eighty-five crores of rupees. But in return, what have they given us? Under the terms of Partition, they had to give compensation for the immovable property that the Hindus had left behind. The property amounted to hundreds of crores of rupees. But so far we have not received even a single pie. We have been giving everything they demand. But have we ever succeeded in getting anything from them? If we ask them to keep quiet by giving them more and more, will they stop? If now we give Kashmir, then they may ask for Assam and then for Bengal.

The more we give the more their appetite gets whetted. So this one-way traffic must stop. The only basis for talks with Pakistan is to tell them, “China is a common danger for both Bharat and Pakistan. If China succeeds neither of us will remain free. Therefore let us stand shoulder to shoulder to face this common powerful foe.” This must be the only basis for talks. If we begin to appease them, there will be no end.

That brings us to our relations with the Western countries. There is nothing wrong with the policy of non-alignment as such. On the contrary, our folly has been that we were not strictly non-aligned but were oriented more towards the Communist bloc. When England and France attacked Egypt over the Suez affair, we were the first to denounce them in the strongest possible terms. But when China butchered Tibet we did not utter a word of protest. And when Russian tanks rolled into Hungary and crushed its freedom revolt we even tried to justify that act. Had we remained truly non-aligned and pointed out our common devotion to democracy, the West would have looked upon us as a dependable friend. After all, when we were in trouble we looked to them and they rushed to our help.

Russia, in spite of all its protestations of friendship for us, sent us the four MIG planes scheduled to be sent earlier, several months after the critical hour had passed. Stranger still, the planes were sent by ship and not by air! So far we have not heard about their having been flown at all. We do not know whether the Government calls these developments as alignment or non-alignment.

Let us hope the Government will take an objective view of the problem and not allow high-sounding slogans and shibboleths to come in the way of arming our nation to the teeth. We must get arms from wherever we can have them. If Germany could buy guns in England on the eve of the First World War and France could sell tanks to Germany on the eve of the Second World War and all the countries opposed to Germany including Russia could receive American military aid during that war, why should we fight shy of taking arms aid from willing countries, whichever they may be?

There is an important link on our Northern frontier which we must strengthen. And that is Nepal. Form times immemorial Nepal has been identified with our national way of life. It is a sovereign State, and we are happy over this fact. It is small in size and it is our duty to see that it is not crushed out of existence. Under pressure from a much bigger power, China, Nepal has accepted in its moments of weakness the proposal for the Lhasa – Kathmandu Road. It is our duty to see that the independence and sovereignty of Nepal are preserved. Both of us are facing a common danger. We must respect Nepal’s sovereignty and create confidence in its mind about our bona fides. Its rebels have sought shelter in our territory. This has been causing much heart-burning in Nepal. It has given rise to a virulent anti-Bharat propaganda in that State. We must restrain these rebels and reestablish the ties of traditional friendship.

Let the defence of our sacred motherland be the first criterion of all our policies-internal and external. For that, if it becomes necessary to cross our frontiers let us do it without the least hesitation. Today the Dalai Lama is in our midst. Tibetans are still offering stiff resistance to Chinese forces in their country. This is a factor in our favour for the liberation of Tibet. Let the Dalai Lama set up his own émigré Government and declare the independence of Tibet. Let us give him all necessary support in carrying on the struggle for his country’s freedom. Without a free and friendly Tibet, all our Northern defences become merely mockery. But our Prime Minister says that such a step would be ‘manifest nonsense’ we cannot understand why he should be opposed to such a noble cause-a cause in support of the independence of a down-trodden people and which is a pre-eminent requisite for our national security. In fact, our late revered President Dr. Rajendra Prasad had said that we cannot hope to protect our frontiers unless we carry the war into the enemy’s territory and for that, liberation of Tibet is the first military step.

(Source: The Bunch of Thoughts- Part Three – The Path To Glory: XXIV. Fight to Win*)

*In the wake of Chinese invasion in October 1962