The Amateurish Prime Minister and his congregation of blunders that affected India

Jawaharlal Nehru ascended to the position of the inaugural Prime Minister of India due to the persistent lobbying of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who skillfully maneuvered the Congress party into accepting Nehru over the exceedingly prominent and proficient Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. It is worth noting that Nehru was not the unanimous choice for the position, and several senior members of the Congress party, including Patel himself, were hesitant about his suitability for the role.Nonetheless, despite the mixed reactions to his legacy, it cannot be denied that Nehru played a pivotal role in shaping the course of India's history.

The assertion, paradoxically, holds true: Nehru bears the primary responsibility for the extensive issues that India inherited from the 1940s to the early 1960s. A cursory examination of Nehru's colossal errors demonstrates how they significantly influenced the India that we are familiar with today.

1.The act of catalyzing the Kashmir conflict.

Nehru single-handedly created the Kashmir issue that weighs Bharat down to this day, firstly by refusing Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to Bharat when it was first offered in September 1947; secondly by accepting it only if the unconditional accession was made “temporary” and “conditional”; thirdly, by preventing the Indian Army from liberating the whole of Jammu & Kashmir from Pakistani invaders at the end of 1948; fourthly by needlessly internationalizing the issue and lastly by engineering, despite opposition from Patel and Ambedkar, Article 370 and Article 35A of the Indian constitution that give special status to the state.

2.Nehru declined Khan of Kalat's offer to join India due to ideological reasons.

In 1947, the Khan of Kalat, a princely state in Balochistan, opted to join Bharat rather than Pakistan. He sent Nehru signed accession papers that officially made Kalat a part of the Union of Bharat. Nehru, for reasons best known to him, rejected Kalat’s accession and returned the accession papers to the Khan, paving the way for Pakistan’s invasion and annexation of Balochistan.

3. Obstructing Sardar Patel’s plan to liberate Hyderabad from the murderous Nizam 

After Bharat’s independence, Hyderabad’s Nizam refused to accede to Bharat, and unleashed a private army of over two lakh “Razakars” on the state’s Hindu subjects, massacring at least thirty to forty thousand people, by conservative estimates.

In response, Union Home Minister Sardar Patel decided to liberate the state using military force. PM Nehru opposed the plan and tried to scuttle it. He insulted and humiliated Patel, calling him “a complete communalist” in a meeting. Patel went ahead despite Nehru’s best efforts, and launched Operation Polo that liberated Hyderabad.

4. Gifting Manipur’s Kabo valley to Burma

The lush, fertile and resource-rich Kabo valley, which measures over 11,000 sq km, has been part of the kingdom of Manipur at least as far back as 1450, according to historical records. After the British annexed Manipur, they leased the valley to Burma in 1834, in consultation with Maharaja Gambhir Singh of Manipur.

In return, Burma paid the kingdom of Manipur sicca rupees 500 monthly as compensation, with the clear stipulation that Manipur retained the right to reclaim the land at any time. The compensation was paid until Manipur became a part of the Union of Bharat, at which point it became incumbent upon the Government of Bharat to reclaim the land.

However, instead of reclaiming the territory, Nehru gifted it to Burma in 1954.

5. Gifting the strategically located Coco Islands to Burma

The Great Coco Island and the Little Coco island form the northernmost part of the Andaman archipelago. Bharat’s former defense minister George Fernandes revealed that PM Nehru gifted these islands to Burma after Bharat’s independence.

Subsequently, Burma handed them over to China, which has established an extensive electronic surveillance station on the larger of the islands, to keep an eye on India’s military and naval activities in the Bay of Bengal, giving it a crucial strategic advantage in Bharat’s backyard and posing a serious threat to country's security.

6. Hostility towards Sardar Patel’s restoration of the Somnath Temple

After Bharat’s Independence, Union Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel pledged to rebuild the Somnath temple that was last destroyed by the Mughal despot Aurangzeb. Nehru opposed the project tooth and nail, terming it “Hindu revivalism”.

Despite Nehru’s hostility, the strong-willed Patel completed the restoration. When President Rajendra Prasad was invited to inaugurate the temple, Nehru “advised” him to dissociate himself with the event, in the interest of “preserving the secular fabric of the Indian Republic”. Prasad too, ignored Nehru’s advice.

7. Rejecting American and Soviet offers of a permanent seat for Bharat at the UNSC

In 1950, soon after Bharat’s independence, the United States offered Bharat a permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council. PM Nehru rejected the offer, saying that he would not accept any offer that came at the cost of China.

In 1955, the US repeated the offer in tandem with the USSR, in a rare instance of agreement between the cold war enemies. Nehru again rejected the offer, insisting that priority be given to China instead of Bharat. Nehru ensured that China got a Permanent seat at the UN Security Council, at the expense of Bharat.

Today, thanks to Nehru, China has unlimited opportunities to repeatedly harm Bharat’s interests at the UN.

8. Refusing the Sultan of Oman’s gift of Gwadar port

The Sultan of Oman offered the port of Gwadar to Bharat in 1958. Nehru rejected the offer. Pakistan subsequently bought the strategically-located port, which today is the lynchpin of China’s CPEC segment of its massive Belt and Road project.

9. Preventing Nepal from re-joining Bharat

In the early 1950s, Nepal’s King Tribhuvan offered to merge Nepal with Bharat. However, for reasons best known to him, Nehru rejected the offer, spurning the opportunity to regain Bharat’s historic territory.

10. Rejecting US President Kennedy’s offer to help Bharat become Asia’s first nuclear power

Much before China became the first Asian nation to test a nuclear device, US President John F Kennedy had offered to help Bharat build and detonate one in the Rajasthan desert. Kennedy sent PM Nehru a hand-written note making the offer. Kennedy’s letter emphasized that “Nothing is more important than national security”.

Nehru turned down Kennedy’s offer. Had Nehru accepted Kennedy’s offer of assistance, Bharat would have been the first Asian nuclear power, ahead of China. China would not have dared invade Bharat in 1962, nor would Pakistan have, in 1965.

Had Nehru accepted Kennedy’s offer of assistance, Bharat would have been a founding member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

11. Signing the most unequal treaty in history

In 1960, PM Nehru, for the sake of “friendship” and “goodwill” signed one of the most unequal, lopsided treaties ever — the Indus Waters Treaty, giving Pakistan ownership of over three-fourths of the water the flows through the Indus System of Rivers located in Bharat. Pakistan reciprocated Nehru’s gesture of goodwill by invading Bharat just five years later.

12. Giving up on Tibet, placing Bharat’s water security and northern border at China’s mercy

When indications mounted that China, under Mao Zedong, was preparing to invade Tibet, Nehru refused to even contemplate the idea of using military force to deter the Chinese. The invasion eventually happened in 1950, rendering Bharat’s northern border undemarcated and insecure, and placing Tibet’s immense water resources, upon which Bharat depends, squarely in China’s hands.

Furthermore, Nehru did not make any effort to settle the border dispute with the Chinese, which led to the 1962 war with China.

13. 1962 Himalayan Blunder: the Bharat-China war disaster

Nehru’s inept and myopic foreign policy, lack of foresight, hare-brained “forward policy”, and grounding of the Indian Air Force led to Bharat’s humiliating defeat in the 1962 war with China, and the loss of the Aksai Chin peninsula among several other territories.