Dr. Rajkumar Singh
From the view point of perception and perspective India’s defeat at the hands of China in October 1962 and the death of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Prime Minister of India, in May 1964, proved a turning point in country’ foreign policy because it shifted India’s policy preferences from peace and idealism to realism, which laid additional focus on country’s military strength and defence preparations as per the regional and global requirements.
India alike, for the countries of the world, defence policy is an integral part of national security in which role of the armed forces become its core values of survival and political independence against any external or internal threats by deterrence or waging a war. Initially, in the years following country’s Independence, India refused to accept the western or traditional notion of security which mainly believes in making the nation all powerful and a nation can be secured only if it increases power at the expense of others.
At the time India adopted the non-military aspect of security which follow a development-oriented economy and sought to do away with socio-economic causes of insecurity. It laid more emphasis on the rapid and well managed socio-economic development of its people. As this goal and priority require a stable and durable environment of peace and security at global, regional and national levels, India, at first, pleaded negotiable diplomacy, peace and idealism in world politics. Thus, in place of narrow, New Delhi conceptualized a broad-based approach, not limited to defence only but beyond. In nutshell, India’s national security policy enforced the principle of ‘security with each other’ rather than ‘security against each other’ meaning to be based on transnational co-operation and development.
Policy changes analysed
In post- Nehru era, India’s defence/security policy began to operate on two fronts: 1. Political and diplomatic front, and 2. military front. The former is focused on building bridges of peace in the neighbourhood which include managing and resolving conflicts and enhancing national interests with the help of non-military means. In the context India also understands in view of global and regional realities that the political and diplomatic means will work effectively only when it is backed by the credible military deterrence, having armed forces of highest level in defence preparedness to react swiftly with ability.
The new policy perception and approach made two kinds of changes in decision making-strategic and structural. While strategic decisions were made in context of international politics and handle the challenges of alliances, balance of power, nuclear weapons, war and peace, structural decisions dealt with the modernization of armed forces, procurement of weapons, allocation of defence budget and erecting decision-making structures. The changed policy followed various decisions to make the country strong enough regionally and globally paving the way for promotion and protection of India’s national interest.
Now, India abandoned Nehru’s policy of defence by friendship and did not repeat the errors done in 1962 at the time of India-China war. After the death of Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri became the Prime Minister of India, who took the diplomatic and political help of Soviet Union in 1965 when India and Pakistan were at declared war in Jammu and Kashmir. Although, Shastri’s tenure was very short and he died in January 1966 after signing the Tashkent Agreement with Ayub Khan, his period is remembered for the changes he initiated -shifting of emphasis from international events to the immediate neighbourhood of India. In contrast to Nehru, who commanded a global personality and played a role in world politics bigger than the then resources of India permitted. Earlier, India’s image was also tarnished in October 1964 when China exploded a nuclear bomb, where India proved far behind Peking and, the development posed a new challenge for New Delhi.
Assertive India
With the coming of Mrs. Indira Gandhi after the death of Lal Bahadur Shastri in January 1966, she opted for her and the country a role which India required earlier. Following the new perceptions and the policy she was determined to make India’s position dominant in the region in order to improve country’s image at the global level which the nation had lost due to its defeat in 1962.
Although initially her position in the Congress Party was weak and it faced a split in the year 1969 but her organizational position strengthened after the general election of 1970 and by the time emerged the issue of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. In the history of independent Pakistan which comprised of its East and West part, the first democratic election was held in December 1970 in which the Awami League Party of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman got clear majority against the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and now, as per results, Mujibur Rahman should be made the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
But neither Yahya Khan, the then military ruler of Pakistan nor Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the leader of opposition, want to make him country’s Prime Minister, and in place, he was arrested and imprisoned in the West Pakistan. This undemocratic and arbitrary action of West Pakistan’s military ruler in collusion with opposition Bhutto aggravated the public sentiments in East Pakistan and they came on the street denouncing the military rule of Yahya Khan. East Pakistan was put under martial rule followed by the supply of large number of troops, who crushed the masses with brute force.
As a result of the mass sufferings and atrocities by the troops over 12 million Hindus and Muslims came to West Bengal, mainly in Calcutta, as refugees and the put an economic strain on India. Like a successful visional leader Mrs. Gandhi undertook extensive tour of Western countries to let them know the situation and ultimately sided with East Pakistan’s public to defeat the Pak army and help create an independent country in the region dividing erstwhile Pakistan. In the midst of the phase she concluded Indo -Soviet Treaty of Peace and Friendship in August 1971. Her other significant works which boosted India image regionally and at the global level include, Shimla Agreement of 1972, nuclear test of 1974, integration of Sikkim into the Indian Union in 1975 diplomatic handling of Afghan crisis, military involvement of India in Sri Lanka (1987), and Maldives (1988).
Emergence of a dominant India
No doubt, these demonstrations of India’s military and non-military capabilities enhanced country’s diplomatic stature and height, it also gave a misguided message to neighbours of India. From the time of Nehru to Indira Gandhi and present Narendra Modi it became clear that diplomatic styles and personalities of individuals in power, make a huge difference in nation’s foreign policy performances.
India’s expressions during the tenure of Mrs. Gandhi, especially her role in the emergence of Bangladesh became a burning example of India’s motives in the region and despite clarifications and justifications on the part of New Delhi, they assumed that India has the ability to change the geo-political landscape of South Asia.
In the years following independence India chose to deal with neighbours by engaging in bilateral talks and treaties, this changed form of Indian diplomacy gave rise to a feeling among the neighbouring countries that India uses bilateralism as a tool of coercive diplomacy. These positive developments on Indian side compelled the countries of the region South Asia to give a call for nuclear free zone and agree to form a regional organisation in December 1985, called the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC).
(The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights)
Author: Dr. Rajkumar Singh, Professor, Head of the University Department of Political Science with Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences at the Bhupendra Narayan Mandal University, Madhepura (Bihar), India. In addition to 18 books published so far there are about 700 articles to his credit in several national and international journals and daily newspapers based mainly in USA, Russia, China, Japan, Belgium, Canada, Pakistan, United Kingdom, Romania, Australia, Algeria, Nigeria, Kenya, Armenia, Surinam, Lebanon, Pakistan Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and a few in other places of the world.