Nehru's arrogance and scorn for which we keep paying

Last updated on: July 26, 2008 at 8:44 pm By Desh Kapoor

In the world of geopolitical maneuvering either you should become a powerful "bad-ass" or side with one. Those who do neither and with arrogant demeanour as well as false confidence as their ally are very few and far between. India had the dubious distinction of having quite a few of such characters throughout its history - and worse at the dawn of its independence! Jawaharlal Nehru "declined a United States offer" to India to "take the permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council" around 1953 and suggested that it be given to China, according to the United Nations Under-Secretary General, Sashi Tharoor. In his latest book, "Nehru - The Invention of India," Mr. Tharoor writes that Indian diplomats who have seen files swear that Nehru declined the offer about the same time as he turned down "with scorn" John Foster Dulles' support for an Indian Monroe Doctrine. Nehru had suggested that the seat, till then held by Taiwan, be offered to Beijing instead. He wrote that "the seat was held with scant credibility by Taiwan." So, one, Nehru scorned at the Security Council membership and gifted it away to China and second, scoffed at the offer of cover of Monroe doctrine from the US. The latter was the doctrine offered to the West by US for protection. Nehru spurned it off under the pretext that he did not want to make Asia a "playground" for the world powers! Can I laugh? Please? As if he was not just the Prime Minister of India but also of Pakistan, Nepal and Sri-Lanka! Pakistan, of course, had its own thoughts and they went ahead by inviting US into the region anyways. Only this time, US was on the other side.. and China was in that box as well! And we neither had the Security Council veto powers nor the protection of the US! Worse both were with the enemies who were busy planning wars against us when the grand, arrogant "Chacha" deserted the Indian politics due to death through stroke - so "hurt" and "broken" was he! Yeah right! And the nation was supposed to mourn that?? Read more

Betrayal of the jawan who died un-named

Last updated on: July 26, 2008 at 11:35 am By Desh Kapoor

"Dear Comrade, On the eve of my visit to China, I venture to write to you to dispel doubts and rumors." Thus wrote Jawaharlal Nehru to each member of his Cabinet in 1954 before his famous (and in hindsight - an infamous) visit to China. He was using the Gandhian tactic of emotional blackmail by saying that he would not stand for re-election as the Congress President in 1955 and would not function as a Prime Minister "for sometime". The letter had its intended effect as he beat down on the moderates, Centrists, and "right-wing" colleagues and India took a sharp turn to Communism and Socialism - more socialism at home, more flirting with Communism abroad. In hindsight, nothing could have been more tragic for the citizens and more properous for the ruling few! A empire that was to be built on mockery of the silent poverty and illiteracy through slogans and repeated emotional blackmail - was initiated only to be passed on as a family hierloom. India was betrayed and remained so. Nehru was, meanwhile, in a hurry to make India Socialist and elevate Krishna Menon - a confirmed Left-winger as his foreign minister, which his more moderate party colleagues and cabinet members opposed! On February 3, 1956, Menon joined the Union Cabinet as Minister without Portfolio. In 1957 he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Bombay, and in April of that year he was named minister of defence under Prime Minister Nehru. In 1962, India was attacked by China and given a drubbing - a staggering defeat. Three people were primarily responsible for that defeat and worse, the absolute criminal level of neglect and apathy towards the jawan (read the account of Namka Chu below) on the ground: PM Nehru, Defense Minister Krishna Menon, and General B.M. Kaul! Kaul had been elevated, some say, over other more capable officers and given charge where he made some glaring errors. After the war, two people were sacked - Krishna Menon and BM Kaul. Nehru died on May 27, 1964. Furthermore poor planning in the air drops did not help. Instead of snow clothes & ammo they got tent pegs, kerosene was dropped in 200L barrels. Many rolled down slopes and although some could be retrieved, many were given up. Especially high were losses from drops by C119s due to the higher speed of the aircraft. Meanwhile two platoons of MMGs from 6 Mahar and 34 Heavy Mortar Regiment reached Lumpu. The mortars had no ammo. A little later four 75mm guns of the 17 Field Parachute regiment were dropped at Tsangdhar. On October 6th, Lt. Gen. Kaul and Maj. Gen. Prasad made their way to Namka Chu. The Brigade HQ was located at Rongla and Tactical HQ at Zimithang. The troops were extended on a frontage of 12 miles or 20,000 yards - more than 6 times their normal frontage. Furthermore the Corps, Divisional and Brigade commanders were all there. Lt. Gen. Kaul now seeing for himself the deathtrap set up for the Indian troops tried get all available resources. He sent a message to Eastern Command for "marshalling of all military and air resources." Late in the game Lt. Gen. Kaul realised what he had gotten into and was now desperate. The Govt. however was not ready to escalate the border clash into an all out war. Meanwhile the Grenadiers, Rajput and Gorkhas were on the way to Tsangdhar. The units had marched through severe cold, with groups of 3 men sharing 2 sheets. As mentioned they were in cotton uniforms resulting in a good deal of sick casualties; frostbite and pulmonary disorders. Two Gorkhas died of pulmonary-edema the next day. So Lt. Gen. Kaul now turned to his pet 'positional warfare' theory while Major General Prasad and Brigadier Dalvi wanted to find a way from their untenable position. The Chinese meanwhile had advantage of position and had now mustered up to a division at Thagla. Sometimes, when I look back at these incidents, I find that criminally acted out as these were, they were repeated again and again and those in power - mainly Congress leaders (Gandhi family specifically) made capital out of it... while the others took the hit. And I am not even discussing the poor jawan who died of frost bite on the Himalayan mountain! Read more

Truth of American Justice system

Last updated on: July 26, 2008 at 10:50 am By Desh Kapoor

Image via WikipediaA lot is said of the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo and shame is expressed at the human rights violation and blamed on the contractors who all acted "inappropriately" as Prison guards. As if suddenly the national pratcices of treating prisoners took a nose-dive in a foreign land and those in that prison behaved in a manner unbecoming of the nations other prison authorities. Numerous studies and incidents in prisons across US show that Guantanamo was a replica of what happens in prisons within the US. Gotham Chopra (Dr. Deepak Chopra's son and journalist) talks about the imprisonment and confinement of an up and coming (brash and neo-rich, albeit) Indian designer Anand Jon, along with hard-core criminals for over an year now without any trial! (Part I & Part II) South Asian community has done nothing whatsoever to help expedite the trial. It is not a matter of whether Anand actually committed molestation and rape of the girls he is supposed to have been put in jail for. But at the very least, something... just something, has to be proved before any action ought to have been taken against him? And confinement for ONE year without trial for a known personality? What would happen to an unknown person then? The answer lies in the death of a Sikh priest Khem Singh, who got 27 years for molesting a minor and 2 other kids in the state prison in Corcoran for - and this is beyond belief - for malnutrition! Khem Singh was a Sikh priest of a Gurudwara in California. Until, that is, an opposing faction forced him out and took over the reigns. He continued to impart knowledge on Sikh traditions and scriptures to kids and others at home. And then all hell broke lose one day. It was during one such visit that an 8-year-old girl alleged that he had touched her beneath her underwear during reading of the Guru Granth Sahib, the religion's Scriptures. The victim's family had been discouraged by fellow Sikhs from filing charges, according to community members. There was concern that the case would bring negative media attention and ridicule to the growing Sikh community in the San Joaquin Valley. The young girl would be marked for life, it was said, a stigma that might hurt her chances to marry. Another family came forward and alleged that their son and daughter also had been touched inappropriately. Singh was advised to take a plea bargain, but either due to his belief that he hadn't wronged or because he did not understand the US law he did not take the bargain and testified the case himself. He was convicted in June 2001 to 27 years to life in prison! He was a vegetarian. The prison authorities insisted on serving meat to him. Even in plate where they would serve him vegetables, they would forcibly put meat. He wouldn't eat. He would often go without food and if eating at all, it would be some bread and peanut butter. His weight had dropped to 80 pounds and this 72 year old frail man was committing a slow suicide (or being killed by authorities) in front of everyone's eyes. No one said anything! Read more

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