Launching a fresh attack on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's China policy, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday said that if the country had been more 'Bharat', there would have been a less rosy view of our relationship with China. His remark came during the launch event of his book 'Why Bharat Matters'.
"If we had been more Bharat, we would have had a less rosy view of our relationship with China. Regarding the three countries that I posited, Pakistan, China, and the US, were actually three very debated relationships in our early years," said Jaishankar delving into India's historical perspectives on its relationships with China.
The minister cited notes and letters that were exchanged on China between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the country's first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister. He also stressed the starkly differing views expressed by the two leaders, shedding light on the complexities of India's early stance on its relationship with China.
"This is not something which is my fantasy. There is a kind of a record out there. There's an exchange of notes, letters between Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru on China, and they have very starkly differing views about it," said the EAM.
Even during the 1962 conflict, Jaishankar pointed out that Nehru sought assistance from the United States, acknowledging the hesitancy in seeking aid during a time when India was under attack.
"When the 1962 conflict war was taking place, Nehru actually wrote to Kennedy saying, 'Look, I need your help'...I'm not putting his exact words...but more or less 'I was hesitating to ask you because I was not sure how it would look overall when your country is actually under attack'," the External Affairs Minister also said.
The EAM then lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his pragmatic approach to China.
"I would say that the Modi Government has been very much more and in conformity with a strain of realism, which originated from Sardar Patel," he said.