Jaishankar recalls Sardar Patel's last letter to Nehru on China: 'You are very suspicious...'

Sardar Patel told Nehru saying I am, I’m seeing all this analysis about China. You know how we are both Asian countries, we are going to be great friends. I actually think that today we for the first time in Indias history, we are facing A2 front threat. The reply from Nehru was no, no, no, you are very suspicious. 12 years later, what he said was inconceivable happened. The person to whom he’s addressing it is actually clouded by a kind of leftist ideology. In 1950, In 1947, we became independent. 1949, there’s a revolution in China. Communist Party came to power and the Chinese purely moved into Tibet in 1951. Of the last things which Sardar Patel did was he wrote a letter to Nehru. Sardar Patel told Nehru saying I am. I am seeing all this analysis about China. You know how we are both Asian countries, we are going to be great friends. I am very worried. I actually think that today we for the first time in Indias history, we are facing A2 front threat and that they, you know, we keep saying things to them that we are friends. I’m not sure they think in the same way. So I am cautioning you, this is Sardar Patel. Actually about less than two months before he passed away. The reply from Nehru was no, no, no, you are very suspicious. He doesn’t say you don’t understand foreign policy, but that’s and then he says it is inconceivable. It is inconceivable that the Chinese would ever cross the Himalayas and attack us 12 years later. What he said was inconceivable happened. Now why do I say this to you? I am not fault finding, I am trying to make us all understand when we look at the word. Here was Sardar Patel, a very very practical man, you know, very grounded, very much with a feel for what life is about person. I mean I am in Hyderabad, there can be no better. I mean, if any place should know what Sardar Patel did this, this place should know now this same the same Sardar Patel with his sense of wisdom, practicality, he’s actually telling his anticipating what is coming in the future. But the person to whom he’s addressing it is actually clouded by a kind of leftist ideology, which he says, you know, today we and China, we will we to have a common interest in going up against the West. And therefore he’s refusing to see what is actually a very practical, you know, I would say basics of diplomacy. In diplomacy, every country has to be careful about its neighbors. And when you have two neighbors with whom you have potential or actual problems, those two neighbors will also get together. That is also very practical. I mean, you don’t need a PhD in diplomacy to understand this, but yet that is what happened. Now I Fast forward you from 1950 to 1962. Now the Chinese have attacked the what is inconceivable has happened. They have come down in Arunachal Pradesh. This is when Nehru has said goodbye to Assam and Northeast and then he writes a letter to President John Kennedy of America. That letter is a public letter. You can any of you can Google it. You can find it in the record. In that letter, he asked for assistance to do the right thing to do. Then he says that. But you know, I am hesitant how much to ask you because I don’t know how it will look in front of other people. Country is under attack. OK, Chinese have come down Arunachal Pradesh, you are actually saying bye bye Assam. And then you are saying but I don’t know how I will look in front of other people. Just think today because when I said if you put your countries interest first, that is the one and only criteria by which crucial judgment should be made. Would you have said I am under attack? But I don’t know how I will look to other people. So only give me half of you know what I really need. Does this, you know what, what does it say now some years before this, this how do I look in front of other people? Actually came in another context. This was there was a big debate at that time about UN Security Council. OK, even today its still a live issue. All of you know that at that time some countries offered India a seat because the seat at that time, Chinas seat was occupied by Taiwan. So many countries felt they didn’t want Peoples Republic of China to occupy that, so they offered the seat to India. Now our response at that time was, you know yes, we have such an offer but first China should get its seat. After that we will see what we have to do. Now in case you believe you think I’m not saying the truth, the source of this is Jamal Nehru. He has written a letter to the chief ministers of all states. Its in his letters to the chief minister. So today just imagine we are talking of India first policy, he’s saying China first in the UN, India follows after that. So not putting when we say an era of diffidence, an era of diffidence is not just an era of diffidence. It is an era actually where we actually we don’t have clarity about our own national letters that we somewhere we mix a certain ideological outlook, belief in what should be our contribution to the world, which is I, I will also, you know we also do many good things for the world, but that cannot be at the cost of our national security. It cannot be at the cost of our national interest for us. That is why India First, Bharat 1st and Vasudeva Kottambakkam are two sides of the same coin. But we should never allow Bharat First to be compromised.