1962 The national memory and the Himalayan Blunder.

1962: The national memory and the Himalayan Blunder by Binoo K John 18 mins ago #1962 India-China War #Arunachal Pradesh #Ch-India #Himalayan Blunder Share 0 0 0 Email0 Comments Print New SUV - Mahindra Bolero Offers Commanding Driver Position. Low Maintenance. Test Drive Now! www.MahindraBolero.com Fashionable Men Sandals Lee Cooper,Puma,Wrangler & More. Order Now & Get Fastest Delivery! www.jabong.com/Men_Sandals/Latest Ads by Google Also see • India fully capable of defending against China: Antony • In a first, nation pays homage to martyrs of 1962 Indo-China war For a nation which lives in the past, and constantly looks to the past for succour from the daunting problems of the present, the 50th year ‘celebration’ of the 1962 war beats everything. The three chiefs of services and the Defence Minister AK Antony were at the New Delhi’s India Gate, down the Rajpath and walking distance from Parliament, to pay obeisance to the memory and souls of the soldiers who died during the 1962 war with China. It was the first such function and it took us long to confront the defeat. By holding a function we have resurrected a bad memory. In this war — actually just a 10-day scuffle as experts point out – we were taught our first lesson in nationhood, military combat and in a larger sense how inadequate we were as a newly independent country. For a while we obliterated that memory of utter humiliation by winning the 1971 war to liberate East Pakistan, a micro state compared to China; the 1965 war against Pakistan and then again in Kargil. A victory in war means a lot to a nation and we have again come to believe that we are a military power though in real terms we are only a neighbourhood bully. The reason is that we are mighty scared of China and apart from some noises now and then have not tried anything adventurous against China in the Arunachal Pradesh border. We have made some noises, like stray dogs barking at the full moon, but have done nothing to anger the Chinese who have time and again provocatively claimed Tawang as their own, as recently as last year. The memory of humiliation always remains embedded despite our efforts to grow out of it and the holding of a ceremony to pay homage to dead soldiers for the first time in 50 years, shows that it still rankles. Otherwise which other country will hold a function to remind ourselves of a humiliation, having forgotten it all this while? What is so important about 50 years? Even China, which won decisively in 1962 by calling a cease-fire after its job was done, held no 50-year function either for the dead soldiers or to cock a snook at India. 1962 Indo-China war. Getty Images The reason is that China has moved on, and 1962 victory is not even a dot in its gigantic memory as a civilization. And China unlike India does not live in the past. Only once did they mention 1962 and that too 17 years later when they launched an attack on Vietnam – when Vajpayee was in Beijing as foreign minister – “to teach Vietnam a lesson as we did India in 1962’’. Unlike a pompous Jawaharlal Nehru just before the 1962 war, Defence Minister AK Antony was humility personified when he said after the ceremony (actually two ceremonies were held on the same day) that India is following the path of peace. He said India was holding dialogues with China to find a solution to the border dispute to “immediately settle” any tension of the border. These are cliches at best, typical of Antony a master of that political ploy. Though Antony said that militarily we are much better prepared, a NDTV story from the border with China, proved that not even the road to the border is in any condition for troop movement and things are militarily as bad as before. In other words, we are still sitting ducks for any Chinese adventurism on the Eastern border. Various plans have been prepared and very little has been carried out. Though the defence minister and various military chiefs have visited the border regions separately over the years, we have been careful not to invite Chinese wrath. That is why we held this “remembrance” function in the safety of India Gate in far away Delhi rather than in the Arunachal Pradesh border where such a function should have been held to assert our intentions to defend the border. It would also have signified that we are not what we were in 1962. The presence of all three service chiefs and the defence minister in Arunachal would have made the Chinese antennae bristle. It would have made military sense to do it. But even 50 years on, we don’t dare to do such a thing. Best would have been not to hold any official ceremony at all. But we love to photoshop history. The national memory of 1962, the bitterness and our own sense of inadequacy vis-a-vis China, will remain with us for ever. The October 20 ceremony is proof of that. We haven’t moved ahead militarily in relation to China nor are anywhere near it. There is some backchannel work happening but nothing of note and Antony’s suggestion that China may not try the same trick again is indicative of a sense of smugness. The problem with our military is that we have had no defence minister or army chief who had the grand vision, or the strategic mind and the drive. Like our last retired army chief , who spent the last year fighting in courts for his date of birth to be altered, most of them were often just careerists, the bungalow on Lodhi Estate or Akbar Road being the culmination of their ambition and vision. Among the defence ministers we have had Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Pawar and now Antony. Pawar, it is joked, learnt to use the word “Johnny” during his tenure. What strategic brains do they possess? If its waging a battle in the panchayat elections, of course, they do. Compare this to Mao Zedong’s strategy vis-a vis India in 1962. Declassified documents published in The Hindu and elsewhere narrate Mao’s ploy. In public China would show enough friendliness with India but would give India “enough rope to hang itself .” This is exactly what happened. Both Nehru and Krishna were lulled into slumber in the build-up to that confrontation. What the then Defence Minister Krishna Menon, who was made the sacrificial goat for 1962, said is actually true: “Seventy five percent of our difficulties come from Chiefs of Staff. I am not saying they have made up their minds, because they haven’t got minds to make up,” as quoted by Shankar Ghose in his biography of Nehru. Obviously, Menon, who stated the truth, had to pay the price. Neither Menon nor Nehru ever imagined that China would attack such a mighty country. The country has every reason to worry that we are as unprepared for any Chinese adventurism as we were 50 years back. A recall of 1962 incident stated by retired brigadier Bhup Singh, who fought the war as second lieutenant, in Times of India will suffice to show how eerie it is: “…All this while we were told that the Chinese will never attack. But they did, launching a preemptive strike on October 20, rolling down from Sangdhar heights behind us. We were sitting ducks as we had been told we were not to fight the Chinese but to defend the area to assert our claim lines. We had no grenades. There were only 100 rounds of ammunition and twelve 3-inch mortar bombs with the whole brigade. After our ammunition ran out, I was captured.” It is a story that can play out even today. Our mindset still is that of Nehru and Menon on the eve of the Chinese incursion. Though we have many more bombs and grenades – more than enough to frighten Bangladesh to submission – the Chinese hold too many guns. Not that an attack is imminent. But we need to engage more actively with China, take the Tibet issue (the cause of all trouble) by the horns or pay the price. Again