0:14 it was August 1950 a very important
0:16 meeting was taking place in the United
0:18 States two individuals were involved one
0:20 was Vijay lakmi Pandit she was India's
0:22 ambassador to the US also prime minister
0:24 jawaharlal nehru's sister the second
0:26 individual was John Foster Dallas an
0:29 adviser to President Harry Truman later
0:30 on he became became the US Secretary of
0:33 State now letters written by Vijay lakmi
0:35 Pandit reveal what happened at that
0:38 meeting the American side had a proposal
0:41 they said let's remove China from the
0:43 United Nations security Council let's
0:46 put you India instead basically a
0:49 switcher room China goes out India goes
0:51 in you don't need a time machine to know
0:54 what happened next India doesn't have a
0:56 permanent UNC seat so obviously New
0:58 Delhi rejected that proposal something
1:01 similar happened again in 1955 this time
1:03 the Soviet Union offered India a
1:05 permanent seat at the United Nations
1:07 security Council but once again India
1:09 declined javahar Lal Neu was prime
1:11 minister both times he was also his own
1:13 foreign minister so no one to blame for his
1:15 his
1:18 decisions fast forward to present day
1:19 and the issue has become a political
1:22 lightning rod neu's supporters say it
1:24 was the right decision his critics call
1:27 it a Himalayan blunder so what exactly
1:30 happened in 1950 and 1955 why did
1:33 jawaharlal nehu reject the offers and
1:43 flashback let's begin the story in 1945
1:46 the United Nations was created that year
1:48 it had a security Council with five
1:49 permanent members the United States the
1:52 Soviet Union China the United Kingdom
1:54 and France now this China was not ruled
1:56 by the Communists it was ruled by the
1:58 nationalists both sides had been
2:00 fighting a civil war for two decades but
2:04 in 1949 that war ended the Communists
2:07 led by maidong won the Americans were
2:08 not happy about this they did not like
2:11 the idea of another communist country in
2:13 Asia so what did they do they blocked
2:16 Mao's regime they did not allow the
2:19 Communists to occupy China's UNC seat
2:23 instead the nationalists held on to it
2:25 now clearly this was not viable in the
2:28 long term you couldn't have a pseudo
2:30 China in the security Council Washington
2:33 came up with a plan take China out put
2:36 India in John Foster Dallas pitched this
2:38 plan to Vijay lakmi Pandit she told the
2:40 Americans to go slow since India was not
2:43 keen then she wrote to prime minister
2:47 Neu we know he rejected the offer but
2:50 the reply letter tells us why he did so
2:53 it would be a clear affront to China and
2:55 it would mean some kind of break between
2:58 us and China India because of many
3:00 factors is certainly enti title to a
3:02 permanent seat in the security Council
3:04 but we are not going in at the cost of
3:08 China so Neu had two concerns first he
3:09 thought China would be angry he thought
3:12 Mao would turn against him which he did
3:14 anyway in 1962 but we'll get to that
3:18 later and second neeru thought it would
3:21 undermine the United Nations so he said
3:23 invite China back then give us a
3:25 permanent seat obviously that was a
3:28 nonstarter by 1951 the US and China were
3:30 at war in Korea
3:32 there was no question of inviting China
3:35 back into the UNC so the offer to India
3:37 disappeared was Neu right in dismissing
3:39 the Americans well his supporters have
3:41 two things to say one the offer was not
3:43 genuine it was more of a feeler from the
3:46 US and two the US was trying to drive a
3:49 wedge between India and China to try and
3:52 recruit India into the Western Alliance
3:54 is any of this true well honestly we
3:57 don't know John dullas seemed very keen
4:00 on it he even asked Washington col ists
4:03 to build public opinion on this issue
4:05 but all we can do now is speculate as
4:08 for driving a wedge China did that
4:10 themselves 12 years after this offer
4:13 they attacked India even today the
4:15 relationship is Frosty so if neu's idea
4:18 was to keep China happy it did not work
4:20 but pretty soon he got another shot in
4:23 1955 this time the offer came from the
4:25 Soviet Union what's more there was no
4:27 China angle to it the Soviets did not
4:29 want a replacement or a Switcheroo they
4:32 they said let's expand the council let's
4:34 add you India as a sixth member the
4:37 offer came from this man Nikolai bulanan
4:39 former premier of the Soviet Union no
4:41 Messengers this time the offer went
4:44 directly to javahar Lal Neu and what was
4:47 his response same as in 1950 we are
4:49 opposed to pushing ourselves forward to
4:51 occupy certain positions because that
4:54 may itself create difficulties we feel
4:55 that this should not be done till the
4:57 question of China's admission and
5:00 possibly of others is first
5:03 solved so back to square one the same
5:05 old argument about China now there are
5:07 two things which stand out in Neu
5:10 statement one he is clearly hesitant he
5:13 says India will not push itself into any
5:16 position and two he talks of others
5:19 being admitted into the UNC before India
5:21 who exactly are these others and why
5:23 should they have entered before India
5:25 again we can only speculate either way
5:29 Neu rejected this offer as well bulanan
5:31 actually agreed with him in fact the
5:32 Soviet Premier said he was just trying
5:34 to understand India's position and the
5:37 time was not right was this another
5:41 missed opportunity then in hindsight yes
5:43 but Neu did not see it that way to him
5:46 these were not serious offers in 1955 he
5:48 was questioned in Parliament about this
5:50 issue and his reply was this there has
5:53 been no offer formal or informal of this
5:55 kind some vague references have appeared
5:56 in the Press about it which have no
6:00 foundation in fact and the plot thickens
6:03 we know that two offers were made in
6:07 1950 and again in 1955 we know that Neu
6:09 rejected both these offers why then did
6:12 he say no offers were made did he not
6:14 consider them serious enough or did he
6:17 regret turning down both of them again
6:19 I'm afraid it's impossible to know the
6:20 US offer had very little chance of
6:22 becoming a reality they wanted to swap
6:24 China with India to do that you must
6:27 amend the United Nations Charter and for
6:29 that all permanent members must agree
6:30 but would the Soviet Union have agreed
6:33 to this China was a fellow communist
6:35 country sort of like a junior partner
6:37 for the Soviets would they have agreed
6:39 to replace that Junior partner with
6:42 India it seems highly unlikely but then
6:45 again we never tried the Soviet offer in
6:48 1955 seems more plausible no replacement
6:50 business there India would have been
6:53 added as a sixth member who knows maybe
6:56 the us would have agreed to it but once
6:58 again we never tried Neu had his own
7:01 reasons for what he did he was an
7:03 idealist he thought the United Nations
7:05 Charter was a Holy Grail but most
7:08 importantly he thought India was not
7:12 ready his statement to bulanan confirms
7:15 that so do notes written by him in 1955
7:17 in June that year the Prime Minister
7:19 traveled to the Soviet Union he spent 16
7:23 days there he traveled almost 13,000 km
7:25 and during this tour nehu wrote
7:26 something very
7:29 interesting we have said that India is
7:30 not anxious I to enter the security
7:33 Council at the stage even though as a
7:35 great country she ought to be
7:38 there zeru was in no hurry he thought
7:40 India had more boxes to tick in
7:42 hindsight we can say it was a missed
7:44 opportunity a permanent seat would have
7:46 helped India on multiple occasions like on
7:47 on
7:51 Kashmir or the 1971 Bangladesh war or
7:54 the war with China in 1962 each time we
7:56 were at the mercy of world powers or
7:58 hoping our friends would bail us out
8:01 take the 19 1971 War for example India
8:02 was fighting Pakistan to liberate
8:05 Bangladesh the United States tried to
8:07 push multiple resolutions against India
8:09 they wanted India to stop the offensive
8:11 thankfully the Soviets veto them all of
8:15 them but what if they hadn't India would
8:17 have had no choice but to stop fighting
8:19 perhaps Bangladesh may still have been
8:22 East Pakistan so having a permanent seat
8:26 would have helped as for n's reasons
8:28 there is no point guessing the answer
8:30 May lie deep inside the AR arives of the
8:32 ministry of external Affairs maybe in
8:35 some scribbled notes or a letter written
8:38 by diplomats many people have demanded
8:40 that these files be made public but so
8:42 far it has not happened so everyone
8:45 speculates from analysts to politicians to
8:46 to
8:48 journalists it's an engaging exercise
8:51 but it's also a futile one but here's
8:53 what I will say missed opportunities
8:56 from the last century should not deter
8:58 India now we may or may not have been
9:00 ready in the 1950
9:03 but today we are definitely ready India
9:05 deserves a place at the United Nations
9:06 security Council it is the largest
9:08 democracy in the world it is also a
9:12 nuclear power with 1.4 billion people if
9:14 India does not deserve a seat makes you
9:15 wonder who
9:18 does but do you know what the iron is
9:20 both the US and Russia still support
9:22 India's permanent seat in fact so do the
9:25 UK and France only one country is
9:27 blocking New Delhi the same China for
9:30 whom Neu rejected two of
9:33 offers time machines may not exist but
9:35 if history does repeat I think India has
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