it was August 1950 a very important
meeting was taking place in the United
States two individuals were involved one
was Vijay lakmi Pandit she was India's
ambassador to the US also prime minister
jawaharlal nehru's sister the second
individual was John Foster Dallas an
adviser to President Harry Truman later
on he became became the US Secretary of
State now letters written by Vijay lakmi
Pandit reveal what happened at that
meeting the American side had a proposal
they said let's remove China from the
United Nations security Council let's
put you India instead basically a
switcher room China goes out India goes
in you don't need a time machine to know
what happened next India doesn't have a
permanent UNC seat so obviously New
Delhi rejected that proposal something
similar happened again in 1955 this time
the Soviet Union offered India a
permanent seat at the United Nations
security Council but once again India
declined javahar Lal Neu was prime
minister both times he was also his own
foreign minister so no one to blame for his
his
decisions fast forward to present day
and the issue has become a political
lightning rod neu's supporters say it
was the right decision his critics call
it a Himalayan blunder so what exactly
happened in 1950 and 1955 why did
jawaharlal nehu reject the offers and
flashback let's begin the story in 1945
the United Nations was created that year
it had a security Council with five
permanent members the United States the
Soviet Union China the United Kingdom
and France now this China was not ruled
by the Communists it was ruled by the
nationalists both sides had been
fighting a civil war for two decades but
in 1949 that war ended the Communists
led by maidong won the Americans were
not happy about this they did not like
the idea of another communist country in
Asia so what did they do they blocked
Mao's regime they did not allow the
Communists to occupy China's UNC seat
instead the nationalists held on to it
now clearly this was not viable in the
long term you couldn't have a pseudo
China in the security Council Washington
came up with a plan take China out put
India in John Foster Dallas pitched this
plan to Vijay lakmi Pandit she told the
Americans to go slow since India was not
keen then she wrote to prime minister
Neu we know he rejected the offer but
the reply letter tells us why he did so
it would be a clear affront to China and
it would mean some kind of break between
us and China India because of many
factors is certainly enti title to a
permanent seat in the security Council
but we are not going in at the cost of
China so Neu had two concerns first he
thought China would be angry he thought
Mao would turn against him which he did
anyway in 1962 but we'll get to that
later and second neeru thought it would
undermine the United Nations so he said
invite China back then give us a
permanent seat obviously that was a
nonstarter by 1951 the US and China were
at war in Korea
there was no question of inviting China
back into the UNC so the offer to India
disappeared was Neu right in dismissing
the Americans well his supporters have
two things to say one the offer was not
genuine it was more of a feeler from the
US and two the US was trying to drive a
wedge between India and China to try and
recruit India into the Western Alliance
is any of this true well honestly we
don't know John dullas seemed very keen
on it he even asked Washington col ists
to build public opinion on this issue
but all we can do now is speculate as
for driving a wedge China did that
themselves 12 years after this offer
they attacked India even today the
relationship is Frosty so if neu's idea
was to keep China happy it did not work
but pretty soon he got another shot in
1955 this time the offer came from the
Soviet Union what's more there was no
China angle to it the Soviets did not
want a replacement or a Switcheroo they
they said let's expand the council let's
add you India as a sixth member the
offer came from this man Nikolai bulanan
former premier of the Soviet Union no
Messengers this time the offer went
directly to javahar Lal Neu and what was
his response same as in 1950 we are
opposed to pushing ourselves forward to
occupy certain positions because that
may itself create difficulties we feel
that this should not be done till the
question of China's admission and
possibly of others is first
solved so back to square one the same
old argument about China now there are
two things which stand out in Neu
statement one he is clearly hesitant he
says India will not push itself into any
position and two he talks of others
being admitted into the UNC before India
who exactly are these others and why
should they have entered before India
again we can only speculate either way
Neu rejected this offer as well bulanan
actually agreed with him in fact the
Soviet Premier said he was just trying
to understand India's position and the
time was not right was this another
missed opportunity then in hindsight yes
but Neu did not see it that way to him
these were not serious offers in 1955 he
was questioned in Parliament about this
issue and his reply was this there has
been no offer formal or informal of this
kind some vague references have appeared
in the Press about it which have no
foundation in fact and the plot thickens
we know that two offers were made in
1950 and again in 1955 we know that Neu
rejected both these offers why then did
he say no offers were made did he not
consider them serious enough or did he
regret turning down both of them again
I'm afraid it's impossible to know the
US offer had very little chance of
becoming a reality they wanted to swap
China with India to do that you must
amend the United Nations Charter and for
that all permanent members must agree
but would the Soviet Union have agreed
to this China was a fellow communist
country sort of like a junior partner
for the Soviets would they have agreed
to replace that Junior partner with
India it seems highly unlikely but then
again we never tried the Soviet offer in
1955 seems more plausible no replacement
business there India would have been
added as a sixth member who knows maybe
the us would have agreed to it but once
again we never tried Neu had his own
reasons for what he did he was an
idealist he thought the United Nations
Charter was a Holy Grail but most
importantly he thought India was not
ready his statement to bulanan confirms
that so do notes written by him in 1955
in June that year the Prime Minister
traveled to the Soviet Union he spent 16
days there he traveled almost 13,000 km
and during this tour nehu wrote
something very
interesting we have said that India is
not anxious I to enter the security
Council at the stage even though as a
great country she ought to be
there zeru was in no hurry he thought
India had more boxes to tick in
hindsight we can say it was a missed
opportunity a permanent seat would have
helped India on multiple occasions like on
on
Kashmir or the 1971 Bangladesh war or
the war with China in 1962 each time we
were at the mercy of world powers or
hoping our friends would bail us out
take the 19 1971 War for example India
was fighting Pakistan to liberate
Bangladesh the United States tried to
push multiple resolutions against India
they wanted India to stop the offensive
thankfully the Soviets veto them all of
them but what if they hadn't India would
have had no choice but to stop fighting
perhaps Bangladesh may still have been
East Pakistan so having a permanent seat
would have helped as for n's reasons
there is no point guessing the answer
May lie deep inside the AR arives of the
ministry of external Affairs maybe in
some scribbled notes or a letter written
by diplomats many people have demanded
that these files be made public but so
far it has not happened so everyone
speculates from analysts to politicians to
to
journalists it's an engaging exercise
but it's also a futile one but here's
what I will say missed opportunities
from the last century should not deter
India now we may or may not have been
ready in the 1950
but today we are definitely ready India
deserves a place at the United Nations
security Council it is the largest
democracy in the world it is also a
nuclear power with 1.4 billion people if
India does not deserve a seat makes you
wonder who
does but do you know what the iron is
both the US and Russia still support
India's permanent seat in fact so do the
UK and France only one country is
blocking New Delhi the same China for
whom Neu rejected two of
offers time machines may not exist but
if history does repeat I think India has
Chrome Extension