Opinion The bad vibes

The delightful part is that thanks to the USA’s open system of governance there are records for posterity which give a frank,first hand account of what the US leaders were saying behind closed doors. Unfortunately,there is no such transparency in India and Indira Gandhi’s private reactions are not on record. Fortunately the formidable American team of Nixon and his National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger were uninhibited in their conversations on conjectures about Gandhi’s behaviour towards them.

Furious that the Indian Prime Minister had during a state visit to the USA coolly ignored America’s repeated advice not to interfere in the fight between West and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh),a frustrated Nixon and Kissinger in private conversation hurled a whole heap of abuse at Gandhi. They called her “a bitch” “a witch” and “that god damn woman “. Kissinger acknowledged that “the Indians are bastards anyway.” Ambassador Kenneth Keating,who obviously had sympathies for India was dubbed “a bastard” and “a son of a bitch”. Nixon noted sourly that Gandhi “suckered us.” She suckered us and she is going to pay for this.”

Indira Gandhi’s visit to the USA was in November 1971 amidst speculation of an impending war between India and Pakistan on the issue of Bangladesh. Both the American and Indian sides were on a course of confrontation from the very beginning. When Nixon in his welcome address offered sympathy for flood victims of Bihar but made no mention of the flood of refugees from East Pakistan,Gandhi in her response chided the President for ignoring a man-made tragedy of vast proportions.

Nixon retaliated by keeping his guest waiting for 45 minutes for a White House meeting with him. Mrs Gandhi’s condescending tone and attempt to lecture on India’s world view riled Nixon particularly as she was indifferent to listening to his own presentation on the situation in south Asia. Kissinger likened the exchange to “a classic dialogue of the deaf.”

Nixon may have been less than polite and dinnertime conversation was frosty but nevertheless he claimed to Kissinger “We have slobbered over the old witch”. This was because he felt that by his standards he was being fairly civil since his advisers had warned him not to give Gandhi an excuse to claim that the Americans were unsympathetic and rush into war with Pakistan.

A memorandum of conversations between Chinese Premiere Chou_En-Lai and Nixon in February 1972 in Beijing shows that Chou shared Nixon’s intense dislike of the Nehru family. It is interesting that our enemies view Nehru book Discovery of India as evidence of Nehru’s expansionist ambitions,whereas Indians see Nehru as a flag bearer for pacifism.

Chou said to Nixon ” It is also a great pity that the daughter has taken as her legacy the philosophy of her father embodied in the book “Discovery of India”. The Chinese premiere seemed to feel that Nehru had visualized a greater Indian empire including Malaysia,Ceylon,etc “It would probably also include our Tibet”,Chou added resentfully. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was to voice a similar sentiment while talking to Nixon in 1973. “Pakistan is not the only neighbour of India which has suffered–Nepal,Sikkim,Burma and China have all suffered similarly. Living in peace with India does not mean Indian hegemony in South Asia.”

There are several reasons why Pakistan has generally had better relations with the USA than India. Apart from strategic considerations,the fact is that Pakistanis knows how to roll out the red carpet and pull out all the stops for important guests from abroad. Charlie Wilson’s War gives a riveting account of US Congressmen Charlie Wilson being wined,dined,entertained and showered with gifts in Pakistan. Wilson returned the favour sanctioning doubling of the diversion of secret funds to the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets. Pakistan has been very successful in its strategy to woo influential friends in important place. We Indians,by contrast,have budget restrictions,a bureaucratic approach and an attitude problem.

Even before he became president Nixon had a soft corner for Pakistan. When he was out of power he had visited the country five times and all sorts of courtesies were extended to him. In contrast Nixon visited India twice as a private citizen and each time he received “a minimum of appropriate protocol.” In fact on a visit to Prime Minister Gandhi’s office after 20 minutes Gandhi became impatient and asked the accompanying official from the MEA in Hindi how long was her guest going to stay.