Little Known Recent History of India

[Guest guest]

"Another  very interesting point to be noted was that although India

was theoretically non-aligned, it was practically leaning a little

more towards Russia.   However when this war broke out the one country

that helped us was the United States.   They sent planeloads of all

kinds of help into Tezpur and there was some kind of understanding

with India..   President Kennedy was the President of the United

States at that time."

 

 

Kargil - the manifestation of a deeper problem

 

By Kittu Reddy

 

I really do not know what you are expecting.   If you are expecting a

lot of discussion on the military aspects, you will be very

disappointed.   Although I will touch on the geo-political aspects of

this war as well as some of the previous wars in brief, what I want to

show you today is that this war that is taking place, this Kargil

affair, cannot be seen in isolation.   It was something that was

coming and has been coming not once, not twice, but many many times

and from the Sri Aurobindonian point of view of  history,  events  are

always manifestations of the inner consciousness, of what is going on

within the human being.    I will try today to show you the political

thinking of this country over the last 60 years almost and how there

is no need to be surprised at all that this has come about and if we

do not take the right attitude now, it will keep repeating itself till

I do not know when.   So, I will start from 1939.

 

It is quite a long time back and you will be probably surprised why I

am bringing this but it is necessary to get the proper understanding.

  Without going into any detail, it was in 1939 that  the Second World

War broke out and I will give you very briefly the attitude and the

position that three very important personalities in India took. 

 

First of all, we had Subash Bose- undoubtedly a very great patriot -

who  was the President of the Congress  just before the Second World

War and who resigned from the Presidentship.   For him, he looked at

the problem in this way: the British were  in trouble today because

the war had broken out.   So the enemy of my enemy is my friend.   As

a result, without going into detail, he befriended the Germans, he

befriended the Japanese.   As I said, he was intensely patriotic and

he created the Indian National Army.   He escaped from India and he

took the position that with the help of the Germans and with the help

of the Japanese, he would be very happy if he could throw the British

out.   There is no doubt that the INA was the result of an intensely

patriotic movement but we, who are the disciples of The Mother and Sri

Aurobindo can say that despite his sincerity he was misguided in his

efforts. 

 

Then, of course, we had the leader of the Congress Party.   That was

Gandhiji.   I will not go into the details but for Gandhiji the

position was very clear.    War by its very nature is evil.   So, he

wrote a letter on the 4th of July, 1940, which was sent to Winston

Churchill.   I shall read out portions of the letter.   That will

explain to you his whole position.

 

" I appeal for cessation of hostilities  because war is bad in

essence.   You want to kill Nazism.   Your soldiers are doing the same

work of destruction as the Germans.    The only difference is that

perhaps yours are not as thorough as the Germans.   I venture to

present you with a nobler and a braver way worthy of the bravest

soldiers.   I want you to fight Nazism without arms or with

non-violent arms.   I would like you to lay down the arms you have as

being useless for saving you or humanity.   Invite Herr Hitler and

Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your

possessions.   Let them take possession of your beautiful island with

your many beautiful buildings.   You will give these but not your

souls not your minds."

 

I do not think there is any need to elaborate.    But please note that

the reaction in the British Government was very strong.   They

certainly didn't appreciate this and Churchill in his typical

outspoken fashion called him the half naked Fakir.

 

And then, of course, the third person was Sri Aurobindo himself.   Sri

Aurobindo sent a message to the Governor of Madras in which he stated

that he considered this war not as a war between nations but as a war

between two forces – one representing a very dark force which if it

triumphed would have come in the way of humanity's progress and the

other with whatever shortcomings and defects was still on the side of

the Light. 

 

Now this Gandhian approach and attitude has unfortunately  been

moulding our thought and running through recent Indian history right

till today. So this is the first instance which I am bringing to your

notice.

 

The second thing that I want to bring you, in front of you, is that

while Britain was clearly stating that they were  fighting this war

for the freedom and dignity of nations, it was very embarrassing for

them to keep India under their own control.   Inevitably, the American

Government under the leadership of President Roosevelt put pressure on

Great Britain and as a result of which the Cripps proposal emanated.

And so Cripps came to India with the famous Cripps proposals. 

Basically, the proposal  was that if India agreed to participate and

join in the war effort, some assurances for freedom were given.  

First of all, they would give us internal freedom.   In other words,

we could administer our own country.     The Viceroy would remain

where he was, the defence of India would be in the hands of the

British and all foreign relations would be handled by the British. 

And once the war was over, they would leave it to the people of India

to decide the form of government and withdraw totally from India,

 

And, here again, look at the reaction that took place.   Sri Aurobindo

went out of his way not only to encourage his disciples to join the

war effort,   He even contributed to the war effort.  He even sent one

of his disciples, Shri Doraswami Iyer to explain and to convince the

Congress leadership that they should accept the proposals.   He even

went further, he sent a telegram to Sir Stafford Cripps. 

 

He also sent a message to Rajagopalachari asking him to persuade the

Congress that this is an offer that should be accepted. 

Unfortunately, for the country, Gandhiji  refused in his now  famous

sentence: "This is a post-dated cheque on a crashing bank". 

 

Now, I would like to give you some of the reasons which Sri Aurobindo

gave to Doraswami Iyer.   For he appealed to the reason of the

political leadership; to his disciples  he is a Guru and  a Yogi but

he could not speak that language to the country.    So, he spoke in

political terms and what he said to them was very clear, that they

should accept this proposal for the following reasons.  He gave a few

of them – one was, of course, that Hitler represented a very dark

force and his victory would not have been good for the country.   Not

only not for the world but not good for the country also.  Secondly,

this offer was made to the Congress Party because there was no

Government of India but there was a Congress Party and if the Congress

party took it in the right way, they could have handled the communal

problem in a better way.   Thirdly while the British were here, we

would be administering the country with their support from behind the

scenes.   That would have meant that we would have been able to train

a very large number of people in administration, we would have got a

certain confidence with the British  always nearby.   So when actual

independence came later, we would be really in a position of strength.

  Fourthly, he said that by participating in this war effort, almost a

million soldiers would be trained in the very thick of war and

fighting in the thick of war is the best experience and if the British

decided to back out of the agreement after that, we had a very large

number of people who could take up arms against the British.   Fifth,

he said that when you have to choose between a known enemy and an

unknown enemy, it is better to choose the known enemy. Because if the

Germans or Japanese won the war, there was no guarantee that we would

get freedom.   We would only change our masters and knowing the

British, knowing the background of their history, with all their

shortcomings, they had  generally a basic democratic approach to life

and secondly, we know them well because we have fought them for

almost 200 years.    So he said that it would be better if we accepted

the proposal.   The rest is history.  He himself knew that it would

not be accepted; we have the well known comment by Sri Aurobindo

'Nishkam Karma', the famous phrase and again we bungled.

 

Please note two things.    When the Congress refused, the Muslim

League went out of its way to support the British.   They said that

they would  participate in the war effort.   Jinnah went out of his

way to state to the whole world that the Muslims were  supporting the

British in the war effort.  Now this is the day when Pakistan was

born.   The British had to reward this gentleman who was ready to help

them when they were right down in the dumps.   Whatever other politics

there was and  there was lot of other politics, but this act of Jinnah

and this refusal on the part of India completely turned the tables. 

The British that day decided that they will have to reward the Muslim

League by giving them something which they wanted.

 

I would like to draw your attention to one more thing.

 

There was a gentleman called Shyama Prasad Mukherjee. He is the only

well known leader in India who came out with an open statement saying

that all those who are working against the British today are working

as evil forces and they should be immediately put into jail. He made

that statement publicly. 

 

 

Well, to cut the story short, after the war, it was evident that the

British had to give freedom.   Those who have fought for freedom for 6

years against the whole world were  bound to give freedom to their

colonies. So after the defeat of Winston Churchill in the

Parliamentary elections and after  Clement Attlee became the Prime

Minister of  Britain, India was to get its freedom.   I will not go

into any details, but  mention one or two incidents.

 

It was evident at that very moment that the British would  make their

offer not to the Congress Party alone but to the Congress Party and

the Muslim League.   So, the seeds of partition were distinctly sown.

And in 1946 on the 16th of August, in the early hours of the

morning, there began  a blood bath in Calcutta, organised secretly by

the Chief Minister of Bengal, Surahwardy. At that time  the Governor

of Bengal, was Sir Fredrick   Burrows and he called out the Army only

on the second day of the massacre. The Hindus were massacred at the

beginning.   Of course, the Hindus hit back after a few days but one

thing was made very, very clear that the Hindus and Muslims cannot

live together. The was the message that Jinnah wanted to send to the

Congress party and to the British.  

 

And so, without going into more details, India was partitioned and

sometime in June, 1947  by some miracle and some power working, August

15 was decided as the day on which India would become free and as Sri

Aurobindo wrote in one of his letters, "I am getting a birthday

present of a free India on August 15, but complicated by its being

presented in two packets as two free Indias: this is a generosity I

could have done without, one free India would have been enough for me

if offered as an unbroken whole." In 1950 he also mentioned that as a

result of this division of  the country, enormous suffering would come

to us but ultimately we will get through.   He wrote: "The

difficulties that surround her now and may increase for a time,

especially with regard to the Pakistan imbroglio, were also things

that had to come and to be cleared out…….. Here too there is sure to

be a full clearance, though unfortunately, a considerable amount of

human suffering in the process is inevitable. Afterwards the work for

the Divine will become more possible and it may be well that the

dream, if it is a dream, of leading the world towards the spiritual

light, may even become a reality."

 

On the 15th August 1947, The Mother  gave a message .   Sri Aurobindo

too gave a massage.  "The first of these dreams was a revolutionary

movement which would create a free and united India. India today is

free but she has not achieved unity. ……. This  must not be; the

partition must go. Let us hope that that may come about naturally, by

an increasing recognition of the  necessity not only of peace and

concord but of common action, by the practice of common action and the

creation of means for that purpose. In this way unity may finally come

about under whatever form - the exact form may have a pragmatic but

not a fundamental importance. But by whatever means, in whatever way,

the division must go; unity must and will be achieved, for it is

necessary for the greatness of India's future."

 

Now here on the 15th of August when the country was partitioned, there

was another very painful episode which took place.   That was the

partition of the Indian army, an army which was very loyal, very

united; in the armed forces Hindus and Muslims had worked together

with deep understanding and friendship.   That had to be partitioned,

it was a very painful partition, not only partition of assets but

friends had to part and were sent to different units belonging to

enemy camps.

 

At that time, the Commander in Chief of the two armies was given to an

Englishman, who was to be the Commander in Chief of both the forces-

General Auchinleck     Unfortunately, it is reported that  General

Auchinleck played a somewhat dubious role.   Immediately after 15th

August, 1947, the Pakistan Army organised a subtle invasion of Kashmir

with the help of tribals.

 

However before that I have to bring to your notice some points which

have to be understood very clearly; so that one does not fall into the

trap of  sophism and  playing with words and legal jugglery.

 

When the British conquered India, there were two Indias – one was the

British India and the other was Princely India.   British India was

directly  under the rule of the British government, i.e., queen

Victoria after 1857.   Princely India was made up of 600 odd princely

states, some of them no bigger than 20 sq. kms.   The biggest of these

Princely States were Kashmir, Baroda, Hyderabad, Mysore,

Travancore-Cochin, etc. Now, these States were under the British, but

they had  a certain amount of freedom.   They could administer their

own states.   They were not allowed to keep a standing army, they were

not allowed to have foreign trade except with the permission of the

British.  This overrule of the British was called Paramountcy.   Now,

in 1947, when the British decided to withdraw, the Political Adviser

to the Princely States- a gentleman called Sir  Conrad Corfield -

decided to make it as difficult as possible for the Princely States to

be absorbed by India. For this he used the instrument of

'Paramountcy'. He saw to it that Paramountcy would lapse as a result

of which  every princely state could remain independent, join India or

join Pakistan. This decision was left entirely in the hands of the

Heads of the State, be he a Maharaja, a Nawab or a  Nizam. So, please

note that once   paramountcy was withdrawn, it was the responsibility

of each State, that means, the Head of the State to decide where he

would go; the decision was not taken by the  democratic process of

self-determination,  The Head of the State would decide where he

wanted to go.   Most of the States were surrounded by India.   So all

of them more or less quite naturally, except Hyderabad and Junagadh,

joined India.   But in Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, father of  Dr

Karan Singh, wanted to remain independent.   But on the other side,

the Pakistanis, exactly as they are doing now, sent army regulars in

the dress of tribals who marched into Kashmir; it was a rather

indisciplined army for they indulged in loot on the way and lost some

valuable time. The Kashmir Maharaja had a very small army which was

overrun and by October they reached Baramulla, Uri and were going

right down to Srinagar and the Maharaja was naturally quite scared. 

So, sometime in the middle of October, he approached India for help

and India said very clearly that we cannot help you unless you join

India which legally he had a right because of the lapse of

paramountcy.   He came to Delhi, he signed the instrument of accession

and Kashmir became an integral part of India.

 

So, I want you to understand this very clearly. There is no question

of self-determination. Some kind of self-determination was worked out

in the creation of Hindustan and Pakistan.   But, legally and

constitutionally Kashmir became an integral part of India. 

Inevitably, the Indian army plunged into action.   By end of December,

1947, we were in a very strong position and in the beginning of 1948,

we had almost pushed the invaders out.   In fact, I was reading an

article by one Brigadier, who is dead now, but he wrote it then, "If

they had given me 3 days more,  the whole of Kashmir would have been

under our control.".  But for whatever reason, partly under the

pressure of Lord Mountbatten, partly under pressure of the Americans,-

it is reported that Adlai     Stevenson came to Kashmir,  Pandit

Nehru decided to take the problem to United Nations which means that a

third party was brought into the problem. It is difficult to

understand why Pandit Nehru did this. Was it done in a fit of absent

mindedness or   was it out of sheer gullibility in the justness of the

United Nations?  The United Nations under American and British

pressure decided that the Maharaja of Kashmir had no right to accede

to India, the accession has to be decided by the principle of

self-determination which means plebiscite.   Very fortunately for

India, the clause was that plebiscite would be held when both armies

withdrew their forces from Kashmir.   The Pakistan army did not

withdraw, they were mortally suspicious of Indians.   India got an

excuse to say, "Look, they have not withdrawn, we will not withdraw",

with the result that plebiscite was not held.

 

I  would like to state one point  very clearly. Spiritually, Kashmir

is part of India because Pakistan is part of India.   This is the

clear position of Sri Aurobindo.   Legally and constitutionally,

Kashmir is an integral part of India.   There is no need to haggle

about it and get into useless arguments. Loyalty demands that we

should firmly state both the spiritual position, the legal position

and the constitutional position.  When I say loyalty, I mean loyalty

to  Mother India. Well, the war stopped and the matter was left at the

United Nations.

 

I shall  now move onto the year 1950.  I have not brought the letter

but sometime in May, in what was then East Pakistan, a massacre of

Hindus was taking place in a very big way and very fortunately at that

time both America and Britain were very sympathetic to India, at least

not antipathetic  and not at all in favour of the Pakistanis.   Sri

Aurobindo wrote to someone, I haven't brought the letter because it is

not published.   He stated categorically that this was our

opportunity, we should march into East Pakistan.   Inevitably, there

will be war in Kashmir, then we should march into Kashmir and into

Pakistan and the dream that we had been looking for- a United India

and Pakistan will take place.   But at that moment, the Prime Minister

of Pakistan, a man called Liaquat Ali, came to Delhi, persuaded Nehru

that we would come to an understanding that minorities in both

countries will be looked after and signed a Pact..

 

"After the conclusion of the  Pact, after  its acceptance by the

Congress Party and the Assembly  and its  initial  success  of

organisation  and  implementation,  its acceptance also in both

Western and Eastern Pakistan, no outbreak of war can take place at

least for some time to come, and, unless the  Pact fails, it may not

take place. That may mean in  certain contingencies  the  indefinite

perpetuation of the  existence  of Pakistan  and the indefinite

postponement of the prospect of  any unification of India. I regard

the fact as an exceedingly  clever move  of  Liaquat Ali to fish his

"nation" out of  the  desperate situation  into  which it had run

itself and to secure  its  safe survival". 

 

So again we were  fooled but the consequences are very clear.   The

message that  I am trying to send is that if and when necessary, Sri

Aurobindo was not against war.   This was sometime in May, 1950.

 

Later in 1950.   K.M. Munshi came to Pondicherry.    He was a former

student in of Sri Aurobindo in Baroda.   He was fortunate to have an

interview with Sri Aurobindo and he writes:

 

"Sri Aurobindo was my professor in the Baroda College, and his

militant nationalism of 1904 moulded my early outlook.

 

Later, I casually read some of his works. Subsequently his influence

has been coming over upon me intermittently, and more and more

perceptibly I have felt benefited by it.

 

Often in the past, I wanted to go to Pondicherry, but I did not wish

to offer formal respects to a man whom I revered so deeply.

 

When I visited Sri Aurobindo on March 12, 1950, after a lapse of more

than 40 years, I saw before me a being completely transformed,

radiant, blissful, enveloped in an atmosphere of godlike calm. He

spoke in a low, clear voice, which stirred the depths of my being.

 

I talked to him of my spiritual needs. I said: "I am at a dead  end.

The world is too much with me".

 

The sage replied: "You need not give up the world in order to advance

in self-realisation. But you cannot advance by impatience. I wrote to

you that I would help you, and in my own way I am helping you…. You

have the urge and the Light. Go your own way. Do not be deflected from

the faith in your natural evolution. I will watch over your progress."

 

Then we discussed Indian culture.

 

I said: "The younger generation is being fed on theories and beliefs

which are undermining the higher life of India."

 

The Master replied: " You must overcome this lack of faith. Rest

assured that our culture cannot be undermined. This is only a passing

phase."

 

Then the Mahayogi sprang a surprise on me: " When do you expect India

to be united?" he asked.

 

I was taken aback. I explained to him how our leaders had agreed to

partition.

 

I then said: " So long as the present generation of politicians is

concerned, I cannot think of any time  when the two countries - India

and Pakistan - can be united."

 

Sri Aurobindo smiled and answered: " India will be reunited. I see it

clearly."

 

Was it an opinion? Was it a clear perception?

 

I shook my head in doubt and asked how India could be reunited. In two

short sentences the god-man described what Pakistan stood for, and

indicated how the  two countries could come together."

 

Pakistan has been created by falsehood, fraud and force. It must be

brought under India's military ambit.

 

So, this was in early 1950.   In December, 1950 Sri Aurobindo left his

body.   In 1954,  a gentleman called Chaman Lal Gupta came here. 

Mother gave an interview which I don't think she wanted to be

published but any way it was published where Sri Aurobindo stated that

Pakistan is likely to go in 10 years.   I am told that we had the

opportunity but we missed it because the Pakistanis themselves offered

a kind of union and it was refused by India.  So again that was not to

be. 

 

The next event took place in 1962.   The Chinese invaded India.   We

got a real drubbing.   The army was utterly ill prepared but it was

not the army's fault.   There was no finance.   We will not go into

details. I am bringing this Chinese war for 2 reasons. Firstly,

because after this war there was some kind of realisation that it is

important that we should strengthen the army, that non-violence will

not  do, the army has to be strengthened.

 

The second thing I want to tell you relates to a gentleman called

Sudhir Ghosh who was a very close associate of Gandhiji, almost a

disciple.   Now, as the years passed, he was attracted by Sri

Aurobindo and he came quite close to Sri Aurobindo.   He used to visit

the Ashram in Pondicherry  quite frequently.  He had not seen Sri

Aurobindo, but he had met The Mother. And  he didn't get on with

Jawaharlal Nehru at all. 

 

The Chinese war was over by November end.   Another  very interesting

point to be noted was that although India was theoretically

non-aligned, it was practically leaning a little more towards Russia.

  However when this war broke out the one country that helped us was

the United States.   They sent planeloads of all kinds of help into

Tezpur and there was some kind of understanding with India.. 

President Kennedy was the President of the United States at that time.

 

Sometime in 1963, the early part of 1963 Jawaharlal Nehru sent Sudhir

Ghosh to America to explain India's  position etc.   He went and met

President Kennedy also and he showed him a passage from  the Ideal of

Human Unity which you can see for yourselves in the last chapter, a

postscript chapter. I quote a passage from Sudhir Ghosh's book "

Gandhi's Emissary:

 

"Since the President was so frank and warm in his replies, I shared

with him Mr. Nehru's letter to me, dated 5th January 1963, on the

problem posed by the military power of Communist China. The President

read it slowly and carefully and ruefully remarked: "He cannot

sacrifice non-alignment, eh? Are the people of India non-aligned

between Communist China and the United States? I don't believe that

anybody in India is non-aligned between China and the United States -

except of course the Communists and their fellow travellers". Then

something fell from his lips which was perhaps unintentional. He

indignantly said that only  a few months earlier when Mr. Nehru was

overwhelmed by the power of Communist China he made a desperate appeal

to him for air protection and, non-alignment or no non-alignment, the

President had to respond. He added sarcastically that Mr. Nehru's

conversion lasted only a few days. He was impressed by the speed with

which the Prime Minister swung back to his original position with

regard to the United States.

 

I also showed the President the last testament of Sri Aurobindo

written on 11th November 1950:

 

"The basic significance of Mao's adventure is to advance China's

frontiers right down to India and stand poised there to strike at the

right moment and with right strategy, unless India precipitately

declares herself on the side of Communist bloc. But to go over to Mao

and Stalin in order to avert their wrath is not in any sense a saving

gesture. It is a gesture spelling the utmost ruin to all our ideals

and aspirations. The gesture than can save is to take a firm line with

China, denounce openly her nefarious intentions, stand without

reservation by the USA and make every possible arrangement consonant

with our self-respect to facilitate an American intervention in our

favour and what is of still greater moment, an American prevention of

Mao's evil designs on India. Militarily, China is almost ten  times as

strong as we are, but India as the spearhead of an American defence of

democracy can easily halt Mao's mechanised millions. And the hour is

upon us of constituting ourselves such a spearhead and saving not only

our own dear country but also South-East Asia whose bulwark we are. We

must burn it into our minds that the primary motive of Mao's attack on

Tibet is to threaten India as soon as possible".

 

There follows a brief description of Sri Aurobindo's life. He continues::

 

"The President read the words of Sri Aurobindo's last testament

several times over and said: 'Surely there is a typing mistake here.

The date must have been 1960 and not 1950'. I pointed out to the

President that Sri Aurobindo passed away in December in 1950. He was

somewhat shocked. 'So there you are.' Said the President. 'One great

Indian showed you the path of non-alignment between China and America,

and another great Indian, Aurobindo, showed you another way of

survival. The choice is upto the people of India'.

 

In 1964. Jawaharlal Nehru died.

 

In April 1965, there was a short war over the Rann of Kutch.

 

Now a small digression. Sometime in the 50s, President Eisenhower had

come to India with an offer.   The offer was to invite  India join the

United States camp.   They just had a war at Korea.    There was the

Vietnam trouble.   They felt that Communism was a very great danger.

Here is a quote from Sudhir Ghosh's book "Gandhi's Emissary".

 

"When President Eisenhower and Mr Dulles made the military pact with

Pakistan the President had said entirely on his own initiative to Mr

Nehru that for every weapon he gave Pakistan he offered India three.

Would Mr Nehru accept? The President had added at that time that he

did not want any assurances from Mr Nehru that these weapons would not

be used against Pakistan, because he knew Mr Nehru well enough to know

that Mr Nehru would never do such a thing. But at that time Mr Nehru

rejected the offer with contempt because the acceptance of such

military equipment would do serious damage to his policy of

non-alignment."

 

Now this offer was made  neither out of love for India nor love for

Pakistan but because at that time the cold war was going on and the

two camps, the American camp and the Russian camp were facing each

other.     In those days, when the satellites and the spying system

was not as highly developed as today, Pakistan was an extremely useful

ally.    Peshawar became the centre from where they could spy on

Russia.   The U2s were sent.   As a result of this, the Americans

created two military organisations called CEATO and SENTO where they

took the responsibility of the defence of Pakistan.    So, while no

doubt the Russians were somewhat friendly with us, the Americans were

entirely on the side of  Pakistan.   Thus things did not go in our

favour.   Anything that went to the Security Council always was in

favour of Pakistan because of American support.

 

In 1965 August, another war took place.   Again, it was the same

operation, sending in Army regulars in the garb of tribals and as it

picked up gradually by the end of August 1965, it became an open war.

  On the 6th September, the Indian Air Force launched air attacks.

Within a few days, the Indian army was in Lahore.   At that time,

Mother sent an open message to the Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri.

  The message ran  like this: "It is for the sake and the  triumph of

truth that India is fighting and must fight until India and Pakistan

have once more become one because that is the truth of their being".

 

The question was asked if the Security Council orders them to cease

fire then?  Mother said, "India must still fight.   Otherwise she will

have to do it all over again".   Well, we didn't have the will to do

it.   "Lal Bahadur Shastri", Mother said, "is a good man but a  weak

man". So our Prime Minister, with all the good will, - he was very

respected as a Prime Minister here, - he agreed to a cease fire and in

January, he went to the Soviet Union where, under the leadership of

Prime Minister Kosygin, the Tashkent Agreement was signed.   He

signed the agreement.   One does not know what happened but that night

he died of heart failure and Mother clearly writes in the Agenda that

she got the call not at that time, but little earlier and she knew

that something was to happen.   Anyway, he died.

 

It will not be out of place some remarks made by the Mother regarding

the Indian Army. This remark was in relation to something that

happened in West Bengal in 1967.  She felt it necessary to send a

message to the then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi.

 

So I had to send someone immediately to tell her, "For heaven's sake,

support the army. It's India's only hope. The army is good, but it's

not supported."

 

Then came the 1971 war.    Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister in

1966 first and again in 1967 and then again in 1969; after that there

was the Congress split and in 1971, she came to the Ashram in February

to see the Mother.   All of us who were present in the Ashram remember

those days; she came at night.  The Mother waited for her and  She met

her at 8.30 or 9 o'clock at night; it is reported that Indira told

Mother about the coming elections and Mother asked how her many seats

she  wanted, and she replied 350; in the elections she got over 350 seats.

 

The elections were held in March.   Within a few days of her coming to

power, on the 26th of March,  there was a military crackdown by the

Pakistan Army in East Pakistan.   I will not go into any detail except

to say that in December, 1970, elections were held and in these

elections, the Awami League led by Sheikh Mujibur Rehman won a

overwhelming victory.   But the then prime Minister refused to agree

to that victory and created every kind of trouble.   And, on March 26,

there was tremendous military crackdown.  Army divisions were sent

from Pakistan, from the West to the East via Sri Lanka and on the 3rd

of April,  just 7 days after the crackdown, Mother sent a message to

Indira Gandhi, "The  urgent recognition of Bangladesh is imperative."

  Now, let me tell you something, because there were all kinds of

stories afloat at that time that Mrs. Gandhi did not follow  the

Mother's wish, and was not receptive to The Mother.   I will just read

out a portion of an interview by General Maneckshaw.   Now this was

received by Mrs Gandhi on the 4th of April, Mother even notes the

date, she sent the message on 3rd but Mrs. Gandhi received the message

on 4th, "The  urgent recognition of Bangladesh is imperative." So,

sometime in April, she called a cabinet meeting in which General

Maneckshaw was invited.  I will just read out certain portions from an

interview which General Maneckshaw gave a few years later. You will

get an idea of the actual situation at that time.. 

 

Mrs Indira Gandhi  telling Maneckshaw, "Look at this, - so many are

coming in -there is a telegram  from the Chief Minister of Assam, a

telegram from… what are you doing about it? she said to me.

 

I said nothing.  What has it got to do with me,

 

She said, "Can't you do something?  "Can't you do something?   Why

don't you do something?"

 

"What do you want me to do?"

 

"I want you to march in". 

 

I said, "that means war".   And she said, "I don't mind if it is war". 

 

So I sat down and said, "Have you read the Bible?" 

 

Sardar Swaran Singh said. "What has the Bible got to do with it?" 

 

"In the First Book, The First Chapter, the First Paragraph of the

Bible,  God said, `Let there be Light' and there was light.   So you

feel, Let there be war and there shall be war.    Are you ready?   I

certainly am not ready". 

 

Then I said, "I will tell you what is happening?   It is now the end

of April.   In a few days' time the monsoon will break and in East

Pakistan, when it rains, the rivers become like oceans.   If you stand

on one side, you can't see the other.   I would be confined to the

roads.   The Air Force would not be able to support me and the

Pakistanis would thrash me -  that's one.   Secondly my armoured

divisions, is in the Babina area, another one in Secunderabad.   We

are now harvesting.   I will require every vehicle, every truck, all

the road space, all the railway space to move my soldiers and you will

not be able to move our crops" and I turned to Fakruddin Ali Ahmed,

the Agriculture Minister and said, " If there is famine in India, they

will blame you.   I would not be there to take the blame".   Then I

turned around and said, "My armoured division which is supposed to be

my strike force has got 12 tanks which are operational out of the

whole lot". 

 

Chavan asked, `Sam,  why only 12?' 

 

I said, "Sir, because you are the Finance Minister.   I have been

asking, pleading for months and you said that you have got no money.

That's why". 

 

Then I said, "Prime Minister, if in 1962 if your father had asked me

as Army Chief and not General Thapar and your father had said, `Throw

the Chinese out', I would have turned around and told him. `Look,

there are problems'.   Now I am telling you what the problems are.. 

If you still want me to go ahead, Prime Minister, I will guarantee you

100% defeat.   Now, give me your orders". 

 

Then Jagjeevan Ram said, "Sam, Maan Jao Na".

 

I said, "I have given my professional view now.   Now the Government

must take a decision" . 

 

The Prime Minister did not say anything, she was red in the face and

said, `Achcha, char  baje milenge'.

 

Everybody walked out, I, being the junior most, was the last to leave

and I smiled at her.   "Chief, sit down". 

 

So, I said, " Prime Minister, before you open your mouth, do you want

me to send in my resignation on the grounds of mental health or

physical?'" 

 

She said, "Oh, sit down Sam.   Everything you told me is true". 

 

"Yes. Look it is my job to fight. It is my job to fight to win. Are

you ready? I certainly am not ready. Have you internally got

everything ready? Internationally have you got everything ready? I

don't think so. I know what you want, but I must do it in my own time

and I guarantee you  100 percent success. But I want to make it quite

clear. There must be one commander. I don't mind, I will work under

the BSF, under the CRPF, under anybody you like. But I will not have a

Soviet telling me what to do and I must have one political master who

will give me instructions. I do not want the refugee ministry, home

ministry, defence ministry all telling me. Now make up your mind."

 

She said, 'All right Sam, nobody will interfere, you will be in command.'

 

So it is clear that Indira Gandhi could not recognise Bangladesh

immediately because the Army was not ready. And it  was not the fault

of the army that it was not ready.   And again, the army was not ready

because there was not sufficient governmental support.     This has

been the one of the banes of Indian history after independence.

Unfortunately this is the bane even today.   General Ved Malik said a

few days back, "If war is thrust upon us, we will fight with what we

have".   Unfortunately what we have is not all what we need.   Anyway,

the war in Bangladesh was over.   It was a resounding victory.   I

will not go into any details but it must be noted that the help of the

Mother was invaluable. She took active interest in the War and she had

a map of Bangladesh in front of her on her table and She concentrated

on it everyday. Her help was not only occult, she was in actual touch

with some of the officers of the Indian Army. However that is  another

story, a story by itself.

 

On the 16th December  the war was over.   Within hours of the

surrender of the Pakistan Army in  East Pakistan, Indira Gandhi called

a cease fire.   Mother did not remark anything except that she said,

"Again it wont be for this time. It won't be done that way. I've seen

how. It won't be through battle. The different parts of Pakistan will

demand separation. There are five of them and by separating , they

will join India - to form a sort of confederation. That is how it will

be done. It is not for this time also.   It will take some more time".

And She added: "One of the things foreseen is the conversion of

America, the United States, but it will take time." Later, She said:

"We are plainly heading for the disintegration of Pakistan."    Thus

what was said was that these  5 parts would secede and America would

be converted.   Then there would be  a Confederation of India and then

the work of Sri Aurobindo would start in a big way.   She didn't give

dates, she didn't give time but she said  it very clearly. 

 

Six months later, on the 2nd of July, 1972, the Shimla Agreement was

signed by Mrs Indira Gandhi and the Pakistan Prime Minister Z.A.Bhutto

at Shimla.   That Agreement settled a few points, once and for all.

First of all it categorically drew the line of cease fire. 

Unfortunately, whether in 1965 and again in 1971, portions and areas

which we had conquered, which the Indian army had conquered, were

given back to Pakistan.   In 1971, we didn't give back too much, but

in 1965 we gave up almost everything. So, the line of control was

clearly demarcated first on the map and then on the ground.  This work

of demarcating the Line of Control was entrusted to delegations of the

two armies led by two of the most respected officers of the  two

armies, Lt General PS Bhagat and Lt General Abdul Hameed Khan. They

held several meetings and demarcated the Line of Control not only on

the map but on the ground also. So, all this talk by the Pakistanis

that the line of control was not demarcated is just trickery and

deception.  The second thing that was agreed in this agreement that

there would be no third party intervention and that all problems

between India and Pakistan would be solved bilaterally.   There would

be no third party intervention, not even the United Nations would

intervene.   Evidently there were many other points which were

discussed and agreed upon. After the Bangladesh war India had taken

93000 prisoners who had surrendered in East Pakistan.    In a moment

of extreme generosity, India released all the prisoners and in another

moment of extreme generosity, India withdrew all its troops from

Bangladesh.   That was the beginning of the end.   Within a few months

other foreign powers came, and took over control.   In 1975 August

15,- note the significance of the date- Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and his

whole family were assassinated, the only person left alive was his

daughter who is now the Prime Minister.   She happened to be somewhere

outside Bangladesh. 

 

But a few things happened after that.   Once Bangladesh became

separate from Pakistan, Pakistan's humiliation was total. And within a

few months after that a new trend was started in the Pakistani Army.

Let me explain. Every army unit, when it closes in the evening  

shouts a slogan ; we in India  shout "Bharat Mata ki Jai", which was

started in the last few years.   Before that it was the regimental

cries that were uttered.   In Pakistan it was decided after this

Bangladesh war that the army units would take a vow of taking revenge

on India. And so from that time every day, day after day, month after

month, year after year, they swore revenge against India in the form

of Jihad. I do not know the words, but these words  were meant to

inculcate hatred, hatred towards India right from that first day till

today. It reached such a point that when I was in Delhi working on the

motivation for the army, one of the senior officers  asked me: "why

don't we create the same hatred in India also for the Pakistanis".   I

said,  "It will be suicidal.   Not only will you hate the Pakistanis,

after some time you will hate yourself.   It is a dangerous emotion.

I don't expect that all of you are going to be karmayogis like

Arjuna. It is natural that there is  a temporary hatred in the heat of

the battle and it can be a terrific motivating force but don't make

that the fundamental basis of your motivation".   Thus they inculcated

a spirit of hatred and revenge in the Pakistani Army.    

 

By 1983-1984, a clear blue print on the strategy towards India was

drawn.   The strategy was to be different.   There are to be no more

wars with India.   No more conventional wars.   The nuclear question

was not in sight at that time.   Although we had the atomic explosion

in 1974, but at that time it was not a worrying factor for Pakistan as

Mrs Gandhi has assured that it would not be repeated nor used

against  anyone, and so they didn't worry too much. But they were

clear that there would be no more conventional wars with India. They

realised that they had no chance since the Indian Army was too big. 

 

So they worked out a new strategy. It was to be the LIC or the Low

Intensity Conflict.   This Low Intensity Conflict would mean that they

would infiltrate into India.   There was an organisation which was

given this job very specifically which was known as the ISI.   They

were told to go everywhere in India, create as much trouble as

possible, go to Nepal, go to Bangladesh, go to the neighbouring

countries, sneak inside and create as much trouble as possible.

 

In 1988-1989 another plan was developed by the Pakistani

establishment. This was known as Operation Topac, created by Zia ul

Haque.   The idea was to infiltrate into India and create dissension

and start militancy.  As a result the first thing they did was not in

Kashmir but in Punjab. In 1984 Blue Star Operation was a very painful

thing.   Indira had to pay with  her life as a result of that

operation for that created such a feeling of dissatisfaction, hatred

towards the Congress and the Central Government that every Sikh,

however gentle and soft he was, became a potential threat.   The army

had to be called again and with the help of the army, with the help of

the police, spread over 5 or 6 years this whole thing was brought

under some control.   But Kashmir was very difficult.    First of all,

the Kashmir area is almost impossible to block  It has huge ravines,

valleys, hills, mountains.   Secondly, there were a very large number

of local sympathisers.   They were taken across into  Pakistan

occupied Kashmir. Everyone who was taken across was photographed. 

The moment you are photographed , you could not hide, you could not

pretend.   Once you are photographed, you become a Pakistani.   Then

they would train you, they would arm you for  15 days or 20 days. They

would give you money, Rs.10000/-, Rs.15000/-, sometimes even in

dollars. After the training, they were sent back to Kashmir for

militant activity and  it became an extremely difficult situation for

India. That was the Low Intensity Conflict at its height, and this

went on for some time. 

 

Then another very important event took place. That was the dissolution

of Soviet Union.   The Soviet Union, as you know was, the natural

rival and enemy of the United States; and the Soviet Union had entered

into Afghanistan with their military forces.   America decided that

they would do everything to see that the Soviet Union was defeated. 

The result was that they poured in arms into Afghanistan by the

thousands.   There were so many arms that just as you go out and buy

mangoes, you could buy an AK47, it was as easy as that and mercenaries

were brought in and encouraged.   So, thousands of mercenaries came

into Afghanistan and fought Russia and ultimately the  Soviet Union

disintegrated.   These mercenaries who fought for the sake of

fighting, many of them were absolute fundamentalists under the

supervision of Osama Bin Laden. Once the fighting against the Soviet

Union ceased, they were all jobless.   It was then decided that these

people should be given a job and that job was to be in Kashmir.   If

you are following the media, you will see that the Afghanistan

Government is stating categorically that there are 10000 Taliban

Muslims, who are ready to march into Kashmir.   It is not 800 or 900,

it is 10000. 

 

Very fortunately for us, the geo-political situation has changed. 

Osama Bin Laden's enemy number one is America on the other side and

the Hindus on this side.   So, this Osama Bin Laden has now become the

enemy not only of India but also of America.

 

Now, about the Kargil situation.   This plan was hatched many years

back but it was kept in cold storage.   It was given to Mrs. Benazir

Bhutto when she was Prime Minister.   She refused point blank to

accept it.   But Nawaz Sharif categorically said, "You can go ahead.

Don't inform me the details, you just go ahead".   So, in November,

1998, these people who are habituated to live at 16000 feet, they

don't need conditioning and training, dressed in salwar kameez,

-photographs are available-, they sneaked slowly without guns and when

people realised that nothing much is happening, then the guns began to

come.   They did not have to create too many bunkers.   They used the

bunkers which the Indians had built.   They brought in tents, they

brought in the finest equipment needed to withstand that cold.   The

rest, of course, all of you know.   The media  is there to tell you

all  has happened.

 

The question that I want to raise  is simply this. What are the

objectives both political and military of India in  response to what

has happened?  It is perfectly alright that we don't take the

offensive but unless the objectives are clear, there can be no clear

direction.

 

If the objective is just to throw them out of Kargil, we have the

reply of  Nawaz Sharif that there will be many more Kargils. In many

of statements, he has said there will be many more Kargils.   If the

objective is to push them out of Kashmir and take POK under Indian

control there is no guarantee whatsoever that there will be peace. 

Probably, one will have to go to till the very end.   But it has to be

a two track approach because the whole of Pakistan is not against

India.   One must remember that the wealth of Pakistan is distributed

in 44 families.   These names are available. There is acute poverty

and people are not all happy.

 

There has to be a two track approach  as the Indian Prime Minister

Atal Behari Vajpayee has done. On one side there is the Lahore spirit

and on the other side take firm positions against the militancy, the

ISI and all that goes against the interest of India. This will

certainly help. I remember very clearly, - it is a personal anecdote -

when I first met General Shankar Roy Chowdhury as Corps Commander in

1991, I gave him some of the writings of  Mother and Sri Aurobindo on

Pakistan. After reading them, he said,  "Sri Aurobindo is a

hard-liner" and I told him, "No sir, Sri Aurobindo is a truth-liner.

Unfortunately, truth is hard".   Today he understands the position

very well.

 

This is the big problem of India.  We seem to think that any firm

position is the sign of aggressiveness and violence. Even in the army,

someone told me once,  "When you find someone from the ISI planting

RDX in sensitive areas, what should we do?"   I  said, "Bump him off".

He said, "How can we do that?   We are from the nation of Gandhi. We

should convert him." This idea is so deeply rooted.   To conclude,

what I wanted to convey in this talk was that Kargil was  an event

that was bound to happen. And unless we change our psychological

attitude, we will be caught by surprise again and again. There is

needed a change in our psychological attitude. It does not mean

warmongering, it does not mean that we have to have hatred for Islam

or even Pakistan but two things have to be clear.   First, Pakistan as

a political entity has to go and second Pakistan has to be brought

under India's military ambit. Sri Aurobindo has said that clearly. If

these two things are done, then the more difficult problem of

bringing about a deeper understanding between the two people and the

two religious groups can be undertaken. When these two conditions are

fulfilled, it will be easier to solve the basic problem of religious

fundamentalism and the Hindu-Muslim coexistence because there will be

a more peaceful and harmonious atmosphere.  Solving this problem is a

whole chapter by itself and will need a different type of approach; it

will need a far deeper study and knowledge, something that touches

upon the very raison d'etre of the existence of India. It is then

that one can speak of  cultural rapprochement, economic cooperation

and the working together in the fields of sports etc.

 

For then one will be touching upon the problem of India's mission and

destiny.

 

One might drop a hint by saying that India will have to move beyond

the religious approach to the spiritual; for it is the spiritual

approach that is the genius of India; in fact, one might even say that

it is the very purpose of India's existence. In the words of Sri

Aurobindo: "Afterwards the work for the Divine will become more

possible and it may be well that the dream, if it is a dream, of

leading the world towards the spiritual light, may even become a reality."

 

We will then have to move beyond religion into spirituality and that

will mean the flowering of the destiny of India.

 

But in order to do this much even, the first two conditions have to be

fulfilled. That is to say, the political entity called Pakistan has to

disappear and the military force of Pakistan has to be brought under

India's control.   About the rest, well, I do not know, I wouldn't

like to speak too much about it. You must be all following the news

as today the coverage is enormous.   So I do not think there is much

more to be said.

Thank you.

Terms of Service.