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archive: Congress always compromised on national security: BJP

Congress always compromised on national security: BJP

M. Venkaiah Naidu, General Secretary, BJP
BJP Website
July 26, 1999


    Title: Congress always compromised on national security: BJP
    Author:  M. Venkaiah Naidu, General Secretary, BJP
    Publication: BJP Website
    Date: July 26, 1999
    
    The Congress speaks too much. The Congress president and her
    colleagues intentionally level charges that are calculated
    to hurt national pride. But they conveniently forget the
    Congress party's own terrible track record of managing
    India's security interests when in power.
    
    Ever since it came to power a year-and-a-half ago, the
    Vajpayee Government has been trying to correct the mistakes,
    including drastic cuts in defence expenditure, of previous
    Congress and Congress-backed Governments. In fact, the last
    Congress Government, acting under foreign pressure,
    seriously compromised India's national security interests by
    imposing severe cuts on defence expenditure.
    
    As evidence of Congress negligence of the defence sector, we
    cite from the "Memorandum of Economic Policies for 1992-93"
    submitted by then Union Finance Minister Manmohan Singh on
    behalf of the Congress Government to the Managing Director
    of IMF in June 1992. It was an abject undertaking that the
    Congress Government would starve the defence forces of India
    of the funds they desperately needed. The memorandum said:
    
    "Total defence spending is budgeted to rise by 7 per cent in
    nominal terms, resulting in a further real decline to 2.5
    per cent of GDP."
    
    One of the effects of this cutback was the winding up of the
    Military History Division that was charged with the
    responsibility of preparing authentic accounts of wars
    fought by India. So much for Congress concern to learn from
    the past.
    
    Indeed, starting from 1947, whenever the Congress was in
    power, there was a distressing lack of political leadership
    and direction in security related issues and operations.
    This, in turn, cost the nation dearly - both in terms of
    loss of territory and loss of lives. In an attempt to cover
    up the loss of Aksai Chin because of weak political
    leadership, Jawaharlal Nehru had said: "Not a blade of grass
    grows in Aksai Chin." That scornful attitude towards
    national security became, and continues to remain, the
    Congress' policy.
    
    Hence, the Congress President and her colleagues, even while
    refusing to acknowledge India's military and diplomatic
    triumph in the Kargil conflict, continue to ignore the loss
    of national territory in 1947-48, the debacle and loss of
    territory of 1962 and the disastrous IPKF misadventure of
    1987-89.
    
    * In 1947-48, India lost 1,103 soldiers; 3,152 were
    wounded. In addition, by accepting the UN-dictated
    ceasefire, Nehru prevented the Indian Army from
    wresting back Indian territory from Pakistan, thus
    creating what is now known as Pakistan Occupied
    Kashmir.
    
    * In 1962, India lost 1,521 soldiers; 548 were injured
    and 1,729 listed as missing. Nehru's Government was
    unable to conduct the war in a manner that would
    prevent the loss of national territory or lives. The
    people of Assam were left to fend for themselves when
    the Army was directed to retreat south of the
    Brahmaputra.
    
    * In 1965, India lost 2,902 soldiers; 8,622 were wounded
    and 361 listed as missing. Strategic gains secured by
    the Indian forces were surrendered at Tashkent.
    
    * In 1971, India lost 3,630 soldiers; 9,856 were wounded
    and 212 listed as missing. India could have secured a
    final solution to the Kashmir issue by driving a hard
    bargain with Pakistan, but Mrs Indira Gandhi did not do
    so while signing the Shimla Agreement.
    
    * As for the disastrous IPKF mission to Sri Lanka,
    India's former Foreign Secretary and High Commissioner
    to Colombo, Shri J. N. Dixit, records in his book
    Across Borders: "...Rajiv Gandhi insisted on the
    (Indo-Sri Lankan) agreement despite his being advised
    by the intelligence agencies and the armed forces not
    to take on the responsibilities envisaged in the
    agreement. Rajiv Gandhi should not have sent in the
    Indian Peace-Keeping Forces to Sri Lanka... (The
    disastrous failure) signified a major foreign policy
    failure for India, which Rajiv Gandhi could have
    avoided." The nation, once again, had to bear the cost
    of this failure: 1,157 Indian soldiers were killed and
    2,065 wounded.
    
    * The loss of territory during Congress rule has been no
    less tragic: 83,100 sq km to Pakistan in 1947-48, of
    which 5,100 has been ceded to China; 38,000 sq km
    (Aksai Chin) to China in 1962.
    
    With a history of inflicting such enormous losses on the
    nation, the Congress can only hide behind allegations and
    untruths. In sharp contrast to the Congress' record is the
    Vajpayee Government's conduct of the Kargil conflict,
    securing a thumping military victory and an unprecedented
    diplomatic triumph for India.
    
    The people, we are confident, will not be dissuaded from the
    truth by the Congress leadership's campaign of calumny that
    hurts national pride and national interest.
    



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