The evolution of India’s foreign policy – Part II

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s departure brought significant changes in India’s foreign policy as well as its national security. Lal Bahadur Shastri became the Prime Minister of India on June 9, 1964 when Jawaharlal Nehru died in office on May 27, 1964. Congress Party President K Kamaraj was instrumental in making Shastri the Prime Minister as he wanted to keep the more conservative Morarji Desai from becoming the next Prime Minister of India. Shastri was a self proclaimed socialist but his policies were far more pragmatic then his predecessor’s. Shastri’s legacy is the slogan, “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”, simply put, food self-sufficiency and national security. India would always remain indebted to this modest man who gave so much to his country without the self-promotion like Nehru-Gandhi cabal. We were so proud of Shastriji!

Lal Bahadur Shastri was the Prime Minister and a de facto Foreign Minister of India for only 19 months but his tenure became significant in terms of India’s foreign policy. The 22 days war with Pakistan in September 1965 and a simultaneous naked threat from China convinced Shastri and a peaceful democratic India that our neighbors have nothing to keep them united except to wage wars to divert domestic attention. India had no choice but to postpone national development and share scarce financial resources with national security needs. Shastriji had no hesitation in calling a spade a spade and build a national consensus for India’s defense buildup. The second factor was the advent of ‘Green Revolution’ and the ‘White Revolution’ in India. Prime Minister Shastri changed a starving India into self-sufficient and proud nation!

Prime Minister Shastri suddenly died of a heart-attack in Tashkent on January 11, 1966. He was attending a peace summit with Pakistani President Muhammad Ayub Khan and had signed the Tashkent Declaration the day before. The Indo-Pak accord was facilitated by the erstwhile Soviet Union. Once again Gulzarilal Nanda took over as an interim Prime Minister for 13 days. Once again Kamaraj stiffed Morarji Desai and manipulated the election of Indira Gandhi as technically the 5th Prime Minister of India on January 24, 1966. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi continued with Sardar Swaran Singh as her Minister for External Affairs but replaced him with Mahommedali Currim Chagla on November 14, 1966. The whole gang of Mrs Gandhi was self-proclaimed socialist and leaned towards the Communist Block of countries.

Indira Gandhi was a chip of the old block in terms of her politics. Just like her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, She did not trust the private sector in India. She nationalized the banks of India in July 1969. She felt comfortable dealing with the former Soviet Union but distrusted the United States of America, especially President Richard Nixon. They disliked each other from the bottom their hearts. Indo-US relations nose-dived to the lowest level in the entire history of independent India. Nixon seriously contemplated using a nuclear bomb against India, a fellow democracy during Indo-Pak war in 1971! Indira Gandhi was ideologically close to her socialist father but was the toughest Prime Minister when it came to India’s national security. She crushed Pakistan.

The real ‘Hero’ of Corporate India

Corporate India incorporates two distinct groups of business establishments in the country. The first group of entrepreneurs belong to the pre-independence ventures and the second group belongs to the post-independence businesses. The dominant group at the time of independence was neither of the two. Multi National Corporations (MNC) held the power of Corporate India till early 1960s. Nehru and his socialist friends presided over the demise of this very powerful group. These MNCs were either nationalized or indianized. Many were taken over by native business houses like Tatas and Birlas. The remaining were taken care of by Nehru’s daughter Indira Gandhi and later by George Fernandes of Janata Party government in 1977-80.

Barring a few exceptions most of the companies in Corporate India started as trading companies. These family-owned companies later developed into full-fledged manufacturing enterprises. Hero Honda is no exception to that legacy of home-grown corporate sector. What is significant about Hero is that this group emerged despite a tortured story from a strife-torn region. The Munjal brothers belonged to the Lalpur district of undivided Punjab where they started a traditional business of vegetable trading. Soon the young siblings ventured into trading of bicycle components in Lahore, now in Pakistan. Destiny intervened and they decided to shift their base from Lahore to Amritsar in 1943, well before the slaughter of Partition could engulf the business! Four years later the business was shifted to a much secure environs of Ludhiana. This city provided the Munjals with skilled labor and other inputs.

Brijmohan Lall Munjal and his brothers established Hero Cycles Limited in 1956 at Ludhiana, Punjab. By 1975 it became the largest manufacturer of bicycles in India. The Munjals introduced a Moped in 1978 and established Majestic Auto Limited. The Hero Group formed a joint venture in 1984 with Honda Motors of Japan. Hero Honda set up its first assembly plant outside Ludhiana and Punjab because of the ‘Khalistan Movement’ in 1984 and produced 100 cc Hero Honda motorcycle at Dharuhera, Haryana. Punjab’s loss became Haryana’s gain and Corporate India expanded its manufacturing footprint. Nothing is more important for Corporate India than to diversify its manufacturing facilities in all 610 districts of India. Too much commercial concentration in states like Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and West Bengal is fraught with danger for a simple reason of national security. India can afford to litter its industrial map to the length and breadth of this great country.

Zardari-Gilani out-foxed the Indian leadership

Like it or not, Pakistani leadership has out-maneuvered the entire political establishment in India. Pakistan used the age old doctrine of “offense is the best defense” against India after the slaughter of 26/11 in Bombay, India. President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan fumbled in the first few hours of the tragedy in Bombay but within 12 hours Pakistani Military and their civilian leadership were on the same page. By the time India could recover from the well coordinated military-style commando raid on its financial capital, Pakistan launched an even more sophisticated diplomatic onslaught. It made India look like a belligerent aggressor! This is called diplomacy at its best. Compare this to the Indian goof-ups, it is absolutely stunning!

Asif Ali Zardari has shown the resilience of General Ayub Khan and the cunning of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. These two Pakistani politicians managed to steer Pakistan out of near disintegration during 50s through 70s. Zardari shows a fine combination of both Ayub Khan and Z A Bhutto. Unfortunately for Pakistan, the time is running out. India is least of their problem. The terror infrastructure that they have nurtured for the past 30 years will not give Zardari too much time to use his natural skills. Dawood Ibrahim and Lashkar-e-Taiba with the help of Taliban and al-Qaeda plan to take over the country or at least large parts of it for their own enterprise of drugs and crime.

India watches these developments in the neighborhood with no concept of dealing with this growing menace. Dr Manmohan Singh will go down in the Indian history as the most incompetent Prime Minister of India in 60 years. Sonia Gandhi has obviously learnt nothing from Indira Gandhi except for equally bad Hindi. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defense Minister A K Anthony should be selling ‘pani puri’ and ‘ragda patties’ outside the Churchgate Station in Bombay. Just like R R Patil, Narayan Rane and Chhagan Bhujbal are now selling ‘chana bhatura’ across the road. All five are midgets and talk like jokers. While Pakistan plays a skillful diplomatic game, the Indian political leadership is complaining to the US, China and Saudi Arabia.

Does India look like an emerging power to you? If these clowns are re-elected next year, India would be fighting for survival, forget about rising. 80 years old Advani may not be very appealing but he is not going to let India be humiliated by a failed state! The government of Maharashtra should be prosecuted by Soli Sorabjee on behalf of the victims of Bombay terror attacks on 26/11 for gross negligence and failing to protect their citizens. This was a criminal delineation of duty. The State of Maharashtra misused the funds meant for the up gradation of equipment for Bombay Police and purchased sub-standard bullet-proof vests for the force. This is a very serious crime and the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Vilasrao Deshmukh and his deputy R R Patil who was also the Home Minister of Maharashtra along with the Bombay Police Commissioner should all go to jail for this. Indian citizens must do their solemn civic duty and vote these criminals out of power forever.

The era of ‘Digital Democracy’ is here to stay

The idea of ‘Digital Democracy’ is quite recent and largely urban. It is quite different from the ‘Citizens Democracy’ which is based on large participation. Mahatma Gandhi preached citizen’s democracy in 1940s and was quite successful in persuading the masses in India to participate in this huge experiment. However, the urban population in India remained skeptical and detached throughout the last 61 years since independence. The growing Indian middle-class complains a lot about the politicians but does not actually participate in the political process. The only time the urban middle-class came out in large numbers and voted was in 1977 to oust Indira Gandhi after she lifted the emergency. That was the only time my wife and I voted in a general elections in India. We have been away form India for the past 20 years or more.

Digital Democracy is a result of creating the ‘information superhighway’ during the 1990s by Clinton-Gore generation in the United States of America. Ironically, the Clintons lost to a younger challenger because of the very technology their administration helped to propagate. Barack Obama is the first President-elect using Digital Democracy as his primary tool to mobilize a huge fund-raising machine and eventually the large young-urban-vote. His campaign stunned the ‘Clinton-machine’ during the primary race and then out-maneuvered the Republican dirty-tricks party. This election and this method would go down as a watershed event in the annals of democracy. American politics has changed for ever. The highly-educated middle class is not scared anymore to take-on the ruthless and well-funded party-brokers.

This brings us to a very interesting chapter in the Indian democracy. The sheer outrage of the urban middle-class in India following the 3 day assault on Bombay’s iconic Taj and Trident-Oberoi hotels has fired the imagination of young prospective politicians. It is a matter of time before you see an Indian-Obama emerging from the ruins of Taj Heritage! Since 26/11, as the Indians call it, the citizen-journalism has shocked the world. The compelling images and the media-narrative of networks like NDTV have generated unprecedented coverage in the west especially in the United States. I doubt if the perpetuators expected such a massive exposure and reaction. Cynics might dismiss this attack as one more event in the series of terror campaign against India but my gut feeling is that something has changed forever!

Sonia Gandhi, the king-maker of India

Sonia Gandhi is undoubtedly the most powerful woman in India and one of the 100 most influential women in the world. She also happens to be the most powerful politician of India. Sonia chose not to become the Prime Minister of India in 2004; instead she nominated Dr Manmohan Singh to be elected as the first Sikh Prime Minister of Independent India. Sonia Gandhi became the first Roman Catholic to hold an absolute political power behind the throne! At that point A P J Abdul Kalam, a Muslim, was the President of predominantly Hindu India! Is this possible anywhere else in the democratic world? Can you imagine a US President, a Vice President and the Speaker of the House, all three minorities at the same time? Can anybody seriously think a minority could be elected to be the Prime Minister of United Kingdom? And these are supposed to be the bastions of liberal democracies!

Sonia Gandhi was born Sonia Maino on December 9, 1947, in the small village of Orbassano, just outside Turin, Italy. She was raised in a traditional Roman Catholic household and her parents, Stefano and Paolo, were working class people. In 1964, her father sent her to study English at the Bell Educational Trust’s language school in the city of Cambridge, England. Sonia met Rajiv Gandhi, the elder son of Indira Gandhi, in 1965 who was studying mechanical engineering at Cambridge University. Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi were married in 1968 in a simple ceremony in New Delhi, India. Following the wedding, Sonia and Rajiv moved in with Indira Gandhi, who by this time had become the Prime Minister of India. Indira Gandhi took a strong liking for Sonia and taught her to wear the sari, a traditional Indian dress. Sonia Gandhi even learned to speak fluent Hindi, the official language of India.

While Rajiv Gandhi pursued his passion for flying and became a commercial airline pilot with Indian Airlines, Sonia Gandhi served as hostess at state functions for her mother-in-law, Indira Gandhi. The political heir to Indira Gandhi was Rajiv’s younger brother, Sanjay Gandhi. When Sonia was getting her political lessons from her mother-in-law, Rajiv Gandhi remained aloof from politics. Rajiv and Sonia lived in relative peace, raising their two children, Rahul and Priyanka. Providence intervened and Sanjay Gandhi was killed in a flying accident. Rajiv Gandhi was thrust into the family business of politics and became the Prime Minister of India when his mother, Indira Gandhi was assassinated on October 31, 1984 by two of her own bodyguards. Rajiv’s tenure as Prime Minister was turbulent to say the least. He was also killed on May 21, 1991 by a suicide bomber while campaigning in the state of Tamil Nadu.

There was tremendous pressure on Sonia Gandhi to accept the leadership of Congress Party but she vehemently refused. Over the next few years, the party fortunes declined and finally lost the 1996 elections. In an effort to revive the party’s sagging fortunes, she joined the Congress Party as a primary member in the Calcutta Plenary Session in 1997 and became the party leader in 1998. She contested Lok Sabha elections from Bellary, Karnataka and Amethi, Uttar Pradesh in 1999. She won both seats. In Bellary she defeated veteran BJP leader, Sushma Swaraj. In 2004, she was elected to the Lok Sabha from Rai Bareli, Uttar Pradesh.