TRIBUTE

I have not originated the policy of nonalignment. It is a policy inherent in the circumstances of india, inherent in the past thinking of India, inherent in the whole mental outlook of India, inherent in the conditioning of the Indian mind during our struggle for freedom and inherent in the circumstances of the world today.

- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
(India’s Foreign Policy - Pg 80)

Revival of NAM, A True Tribute

It was Hungarian scholar Andra Balogh, who called Jawaharlal Nehru the father of nonalignment. Though NAM was formally founded in 1961 at Belgrade, the seeds of the movement were sown in India’s freedom struggle. Pt. Nehru was the chief spokesman of emerging independent India’s foreign policy. There was no one in the nationalist movement who knew and understood global trends so well as Jawaharlal Nehru. Mahatma Gandhi acknowledged him as his guru in international affairs.

As early as 1927 Jawaharlal Nehru represented the party in the Congress of Oppressed Nationalisties in Brussels. In 1928 he wrote : "We cannot in our own interest, and in the interest of the rest of the world, afford to remain isolated from the great movements and forces which are shaping the future." In his presidential address to the Lucknow Congress Session in 1936 he made a comprehensive analysis of the world and said that "the only way of looking at our problems is to see them in their proper place in the world setting." While in Jail (1942-45) Nehru foresaw the emergence of two-power blocs in the post-war world. The beginning of the cold war crystallised Nehru’s concept of nonalignment.

He declared on September 7, 1946 : "We propose as far as possible to keep away from power blocs or groups aligned against one and another which have led in the past to two world wars, and which may again lead to disaster." In December, 1947 he said in Parliament that India has to avoid foreign interference by not joining one block or the other.

Earlier at the Asian Relations Conference in March 1947, Panditji declared : For too long we of Asia have been petitioners in western courts and chancelleries. The story must now belong to the past. We propose to stand on our legs and cooperate with all others who are prepared to cooperate with us. We do not intend to be play things of others."

At the Bandung Conference, 1955 which was the most important landmark before Belgrade, Pandit Nehru made it clear : "If there is one thing that Asia wants to tell the world, it is that there is going to be no dictation in future. There will be no yes-men in Asia, nor in Africa, I hope." He told the Rajya Sabha in 1956 : "to become part of a power bloc means giving up the right to have a policy of one’s own and following that of somebody else. Surely this is not the kind of future any self-respecting person would like to envisage for our great country."

The first summit of NAM in Belgrade, in September 1961, was attended by 25 countries. Explaining the meaning of nonalignment Pandit Nehru said : "Nonalignment has a negative meaning. But if we give it positive connotation, it means nations which object to lining up for war purposes, to military blocs, to military alliances and the like. We keep away from such an approach and we want to throw our weight in favour of peace."

Mrs. Indira Gandhi, who took over as Chairperson of 101-nation strong NAM declared at its 7th Summit in New Delhi, March 1983 : "Nonalignment is national independence and freedom. It stands for peace and avoidance of confrontation. It aims at keeping away from military alliances." Describing NAM as "history’s biggest peace movement", Mrs. Gandhi further developed and strengthened the movement by injecting it with a massive dose of economic content. She called for democratization of International Economic Order while asserting commitment to collective self-reliance. Mrs. Gandhi said : "Our world is small but it has a room for all of us to live together the quality of lives of our people in peace and beauty."

To both Nehru and Indira Gandhi, nonalignment was essentially independence of policy and action in international affairs. They insisted that nonalignment was a positive and dynamic policy, not a negative or unchanging one. They held the view, and warned, that the greatest peril facing the world was threat to the survival of mankind by existence of nuclear weapons. Nuclear disarmament is not just a moral issue : it is an issue of human survival.

It was in this context that, in 1988, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, speaking at the UN General Assembly, presented before the world his Action Plan for Nuclear Disarmament, which called for destruction of nuclear weapons by 2020 A.D. This has become all the more imperative after September 11 and its aftermath. Only a revived and rejuvenated NAM can realise this dream. There can be no better tribute than this to Nehru and Indira Gandhi on their birth anniversaries.

- Praveen Davar