In 1961 Nehru took Parliament into confidence on Chinese Incursions in Ladakh

In the last few days, public attention is focused on China’s aggressive stance in Ladakh and the response of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other officials. We reproduce below extracts from a statement made in the Rajya Sabha on 7 December, 1961 by Jawaharlal Nehru in response to recent Chinese incursions in Ladakh.

Mr Deputy Chairman, Sir I am grateful for the comments and even the criticisms and the suggestions of the hon. Members who have spoken…

Now, this·matter was brought to the notice of Parliament say, on the 20th November, the very day I returned from abroad. In fact, within an hour of my landing at Palam, I tried to come to Parliament…We have put before this House, before Parliament, every little thing that we have been doing…

So, the point we have been considering is what has happened in the course of the last year-that is a narrow issue-and if you like in that connection, what our broad policies are. I stated that what has happened in the course of the last year on the Chinese side was, so far as we knew, that three check posts or military posts had been established….

From our point of view, it was an aggressive act and it was quite contrary to the assurances they had given that they would not do any such thing….

Apart from any temporary affair, in any major conflict anywhere with any country, our first and basic defence is the industrial position we hold behind it, what we are producing. I am not talking about other things, of war material and the rest but everything-whether it is aircraft, whether it is guns, whether it is other things. That is the basic thing. If one does not have it, one depends on external sources which are not very reliable and not forthcoming at the time.

Anyhow, the basic thing for defence is the Plans. All these FiveYear Plans are basic for the defence of India. People seem to think that the Five- Year Plans are something isolated from the defence of India. Some people said, “Oh, scrap the Five-Year Plans and go in for defence” which showed how little understanding there is as to what is required for defence. … in building up defence, in building up the strength of India for protecting the security of India, building up this industrial apparatus is highly important….

I think some Member pointed out in a matter of this kind, we may criticise each other in our minor aspects of policy, but in the main, the country should hold together and pull together and so we build up a kind of psychological state of the nation which helps in bearing burdens and sharing difficulties. Some people say, imagine that we must go out into the country with a raging campaign, presumably, for the coming war. I think that will be completely a wrong thing.

I hope, Sir, that the House will agree with this assertion of our position, that this aggression has taken place on our territory and we must do everything in our power to get that aggression vacated. We must try to use every diplomatic and all peaceful devices to that end, whatever they may be that is to say, avoid war to that purpose, because war between India and China would be one of the major disasters of the world, for us and for the world…

We would not be able to limit it in time, because it will not be possible for China to defeat us and it will be impossible for us to march up to Peking across Tibet. These things are not done. Things function differently and for us to jump into such things would be the reverse of wisdom. If it is to be done, if it is forced upon on us, it is a different matter. Therefore, we should be prepared and prepare as fast as we can and in the best way we can, keeping in view always the larger situation in the world and how it is developing and how that is affecting our own problems in India.

Extracts from Jawaharlal Nehru’s statement in the Rajya Sabha, Motion, 6 December1961, Rajya Sabha Debates.

(Selected and edited by Mridula Mukherjee, former Professor of History at JNU and former Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library)