‘India must protect its border against China’

In April 1961,the Army Headquarters sent a note to the Ministry of Defence stating,among other things,that if China tried a strong incursion,the Indian Army would not be able to hold back.

The note was sent back after being seen by the Defence Secretary,Defence Minister and the Prime Minister but without any remarks. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Defence Minister Krishna Menon were absolutely certain that China would not attack India.

This assurance was given to them by our intelligence agencies,which had gone to the extent of assuring them that China would not attack even our small posts of five to six men. This resulted in our adopting a “forward policy” towards China by establishing small posts of a few men each.  

Meanwhile,Krishna Menon made bold statements in and outside the Parliament that China would not attack India under any circumstances and if China did so,it would get a befitting reply.

These statements,apart from misleading the public,were making the Army top brass,who knew the reality,nervous. Eventually,when the Indian Fourth Division was taken to the heights,it was poorly equipped and armed with .303 weapons. What made things worse was that neither our troops had been acclimatised,nor did they have any winter clothing. The rest is history.    

In 2005,while the then Defence Minister Pranab Mukerjee said the 1962 war was “an invasion of India by China”,the Chinese Consul General in Mumbai Song De Deng called it “a war in self-defence.”

What cannot be denied is that India first provoked China by its “forward policy”,and then China attacked India in retaliation. No doubt,we are much better prepared today than what we were in 1962 but the fact remains that we cannot take on China even today.

The only lesson that India has learnt from the 1962 debacle is to play cool to the Chinese incursions on our borders. But would this help when we know that China has an expansionist policy?

Why is the government soft pedalling on important defence issues such as acute shortage of aircraft in the IAF,continuing shortage of officers in the three services,modernisation of armed forces and developing road communications up to and along the border with China to deploy large forces in case of an emergency?

It is time the government sat up and looked hard at the deteriorating situation along the border. In short,we must be fully prepared to meet any challenge from our northern borders.