Nehru once said “India second, China first”: S Jaishankar

The minister also said that the Indian diaspora is the country’s greatest asset. (document)

Ahmedabad:

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday took aim at Jawaharlal Nehru, claiming that past mistakes had resulted in issues such as Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) and China’s occupation of parts of Indian territory.

Talking about India’s stance on getting a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, he claimed that the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru once said “India second, China first”.

Addressing the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry here, Jaishankar responded to a question on whether India should accept the status of Papua New Guinea and Indian territories occupied by China, or work towards reclaiming them.

Notably, in the past few days, BJP leaders have also targeted the erstwhile Congress under Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi for ceding Kachatiu island to Sri Lanka. Big party government.

“In 1950, (then home minister) Sardar Patel had warned Nehru about China. Patel told Nehru that today for the first time we are facing a situation on two fronts (Pakistan and China) , which India has never encountered before. Patel also told Nehru that he did not believe what the Chinese were saying because their intentions seemed different and we should take precautions.”

“Nehru replied to Patel that your doubts about the Chinese are unnecessary. Nehru also said that it is impossible for anyone to attack us from the Himalayas. Nehru was completely dismissive (about the Chinese threat), ” Jaishankar said, adding that everyone knew what happened subsequently.

“Not only that, when the debate on the permanent seat of the United Nations (Security Council) came and it was offered to us, Nehru’s position was that we should get the seat but first China should get it. We are currently following the India-first policy policy, but there was a time when Nehru said India second and China first,” he said.

Jaishankar further said that Sardar Patel was not in favor of taking the Kashmir issue to the United Nations as he understood the “mentality” of the judges there.

“If you knew the judge was biased, would you go to him and seek justice? But here’s the thing, the issue was brought to the United Nations and immediately there was a lot of pressure to stop the military exercise (to take back the Berk Islands),” he added : “We are in this situation today because of the mistakes of the past.” “Today, when we talk about our borders, there is talk of rewriting our borders. Our borders remain our borders and we should never doubt that A little,” the foreign minister said.

Over the past decade, the federal government has tried to address many issues left over from the past, he said, adding that it had successfully found solutions to some of them, but some would have taken more time.

“As far as the Kashmir issue is concerned, we have a parliamentary resolution (on Baku) and everyone has to respect it,” Jaishankar said, adding that it is important to seek answers about our stance today but it is also important to look at the mistakes of the past of.

Earlier, while delivering a speech on International Policy (Catalyst for Viksit Bharat) at GCCI, S Jaishankar said that for the development of any economy, five factors are crucial: production, consumption, technology, logistics and demography.

Foreign policy can play a vital role in moving domestic industries to other countries, acquiring key technologies and creating logistics and connectivity for businesses, he said.

S Jaishankar pointed out that some of the takeaways from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s last visit to the US was that after nearly 40 years, the US agreed to provide jet engine technology to India and three companies that make semiconductor chips agreed to set up factories in India.

“When the Prime Minister raises these things with US President Joe Biden, it may come true,” he said.

The minister said India is working with friendly countries to create new business corridors and the proposed India-UAE-Saudi Arabia-Europe corridor is one of them.

He said India’s top priority is exports and Indian businessmen can take help from the country’s embassies abroad to increase exports.

The minister also said that the Indian diaspora is the country’s greatest asset.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)