“My Dear Jawaharlal” - Sardar Patel on China || Satyameva Jayate ||

• || Satyameva Jayate ||

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  • Courtesy VigilOnline

  • *** Excerpts from Sardar Patel’s Letter to Nehru on China dt. 07 Nov, 1950 ***

    My Dear Jawaharlal,

  • I have carefully gone through (all) the correspondence…but I regret to say that neither of them (our Ambassador and the Chinese government) comes out well as a result of this study…The Chinese Government has tried to delude us by professins of peaceful intentions. My own feeling is that at a cruicial period they managed to instil into our Ambassador a false sense of confidence in their so called desire to settle the Tibetan problem by peaceful means.
  • There can be no doubt that during the period covered by this correspondence,the Chinese must have been concentrating for an onslaught on Tibet. The final action of the Chinese, in my judgement, is little short of perfidy. The tragedy of it is that the Tibetans put faith in us; they chose to be guided by us; and we have been unable to get them out of the meshes of Chinese diplomacy or Chinese malevolence.
  • Our Ambassador has been at great pains to find an explanation or justification for Chinese policy and actions.
  • It looks as though it is not a friend speaking in that language but a potential enemy.
  • With this background, we have to consider what new situation we are now faced with as a result of the disappearance of Tibet…Throughout history, we have been seldom worried about our North-East frontier. The Himalayas have been regarded as an impregnable barrier against any threat from the North.
  • …Chinese ambitions in this respect not only cover the Himalayan slopes on our side but also include important parts of Assam. They have their ambitions in Burma also.
  • …While our Western and North-Western threat to security is still as prominent as before, a new threat has developed from the North and North-East.
  • Thus for the first time after centuries, India’s defence has to concentrate on two fronts simultaneously.
  • …I am sure the Chinese…would not miss any oppurtunity of exploiting these weak spots, partly in support of their ideology and partly their ambition.
  • Along with these external dangers, we shall now have to face serious internal problems as well. Hitherto,the Communist Party of India has found some difficulty in contacting communists abroad, or in getting supplies of arms, literature etc.from them. They had to contend with the difficult Burmese and Pakistan frontiers in the East or with the long seaboard. They shall now have a comparitively easy means of access to Chinese communists, and through them to other foreign communists. Infiltration of spies, fifth columnists and communists would now be easier.
  • *** End of Excerpts ***
  • * This letter of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel is excerpted from the book:”Makers of India’s Foreign Policy : From Raja Rammohun Roy to Yashwant Sinha” - by J.N. Dixit, published by India Today.