Question

 What were the consequences of the Indo-china war?

Answer 1

When the Conflict Began

There was the excitement of varying degrees among political opponents within the Congress Party and outside when the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched attacks on the Indian Army in October 1962.  They finally found someone who could bring the ‘mighty lion’ (then prime minister) Jawaharlal Nehru to his knees! Instead of closing ranks behind the government for which they pledged support in reclaiming the land supposedly occupied by China, they turned against the Prime Minister and the Defense Minister (VK Krishna Menon).  The fact that they betrayed the government at the very first opportunity, which was the Namka Chu incident, tells a tale.

Nehru’s Resilience Was Legendary

If anybody betrayed Nehru, I feel it was not the Chinese, despite Nehru’s own outward rhetoric and statements in the Parliament. From the time Nehru became the de-facto Prime Minister in September 1946, he steered the country through a long civil war and partition that killed at least 2 million people and caused the largest mass migration in the history of the human race.  That generation had also seen 2.5 million starvation deaths due to Bengal Famine, not to mention Nehru’s own personal sorrows during his 30-year freedom struggle including 9-years in prison. I would say the1,400 deaths in 1962 were the tip of an iceberg while Nehru had seen far worse. 

India Supposedly Became Very Strong

In October 1962 with Chinese still in Arunachal Pradesh, it is said that the Indian Parliament was more interested in outstanding Krishan Menon than ousting the Chinese.  It was not enough that Krishna Menon was removed from Defense Ministry and confined to defense production but had to be expelled from cabinet all together before Nehru could focus on expelling Chinese PLA. There was much criticism against Menon and it has been claimed that India became very strong after ousting Krishna Menon. The proof they offer is that we won wars in 1965 and 1971.

Non-Aligned Movement

These people who ironically include diplomats and external affairs ministers either don’t understand the concept of non-alignment or are just clever enough to exploit this confusion to declare non-alignment and hence Nehru a failure.  A section of these people laughs at Nehru for China supposedly betraying non-alignment by attacking India while Nehru supposedly childishly believed that non-alignment was salvation.  The others laugh at Nehru for other non-aligned countries dumping him by not coming forward to fight China alongside India in 1962.
Interestingly, Pakistan which has been a non-aligned country apparently offered to form a federation with India and jointly fight China, under the condition that India hands over Kashmir Valley to Pakistan.  According to Maxwell, such a proposal was brought to Nehru by Averell Harriman (USA) and Duncan Sandys (UK).  Needless to say, Nehru rejected it. It was Nehru’s non-alignment policy that allied countries from both east and west blocks like the USA, Canada, UK, Taiwan along with USSR which forced China to retreat in November 1962!

Difference Between China And Pakistan

China lost 23 million to the Japanese War, 2.5 million to their own civil war, not to mention the Cultural Revolution and Great Leap.  From Korea to Vietnam they fought the mighty United States and suffered a million casualties. Mao then dared the west to nuke his country.

India, as well as Pakistan, operate on a different scale compared to China. Hence the difference between 1962 and 1965/71 wars – not because Krishna Menon did something wrong.  It is unfair to blame Krishna Menon on the basis of differences in the military strength between India and China around 1962. That difference never narrowed (but widened) in 57 years since Krishna Menon was removed as Defense Minister.

Claims Of The Indian Air Force

Nehru is often blamed for not deploying Air Force.  Indian Air Force made repeated claims of being better equipped than the Chinese Air Force at that time, which by itself should vindicate Krishna Menon’s fine job as a Defense Minister and debunk the myth that he did not equip the military!  But the question is, why was the Indian Army not ready when the Indian Air Force was? This is for Army as well as Air Force to answer before they can blame any politician!
The claims of Indian Air Force that they could defeat China only if Nehru allowed them reminds me of Uttar Kumar in Mahabharat!  Uttar Kumar bragged to his harem that he could defeat Kaurav armies single-handed if his father allowed him. As discussed in an earlier blog, even the Army bragged of their eagerness and readiness to teach Chinese a lesson.  Yet when Nehru deployed the army, they not only got destroyed but accused Nehru of unnecessarily deploying them.