Evening star., 1950-10-08

d&4A OAAGb41ho W VIC WCdhVl11Alk
Britain as the result of two World
Wars-and in large measure by
violent" methods which are
perhaps peculiarly fascinating in
and to--the East. In Mohandas
K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru,
India has produced two of the
outstanding individuals of our
times, men who would have COM
manded respect and devotion at
any time or place. And India has
maintained, or at least it has tried
to maintain, position of disin-
terested neutrality as between
communism and the free world.
Nehru's persistent refusal to
take sides-or to take responsible
ity-in world affairs has, indeed.
sometimes gone so far that he
has been charged in the Western
world with appeasement of the
Soviets, and. more frequently,
with that particularly annoying
form Of responsibility which con-
sists of preaching perfectionism
but declining to do anything prac-
tical toward its realization.
Wiser on Communism
Nehru resents and denies both
these imputations. He has been
attacked just as bitterly by the
Communists as he has been by the
free world. he asserts. AS for the
charge that he is unwilling to
practice what he breaches, Nehru
is apt to reply that he and India
are above and beyond squalid
strife. and that practical solutions
are the responsibility of the au.
thors Of the difficulty, not Of inno-
cent bystanders.
AS a younger man, Nehru
viewed communism and the So
Wet system with considerable
sympathy. In his autobiography,
written during the early 1930s. he
spoke admiringly of the great
Lenin" and the great new $50
viet) world" Nehru is now q
sadder and presumably a wiser
man. but his attitude toward the
United States and Russia still
sometimes seems to be, "a plague
on both your houses"
One reason for this attitude in
that Nehru and many other In
dians are still more preoccupied
with the old European imperial
ism they long knew first-hand
than they are with the new Soviet
imperialism they have never ex-
perienced or are only beginning to
experience.
Obviously. it is the burgeoning
Soviet Communist imperialism,
and not the fading, falling, dying
European colonialism, which is the
deadly danger to India's survival
as q nation-and to Jawaharlal
Nehru's survival as an individual.
too, for that matter. Nehru NAV
underestimate this danger, but he
can hardly be unaware of it. The
kremlin and its agents do not al
low him to ignore them and their
designs, no matter how much he
might wish he could do so.
But while Nehru and the Con-
gress Party leadership in general
thus seems to have formulated a
substantially accurate appraisal
OF the capabilities and intentions
OF the Communists inside India.
they still profess to regard the
threat Of the Communist system
from beyond India's borders an
being Of the same order of mag
nitude as that Of old-fashioned
European colonialism.
Paradox in Policy
The anti-colonial urge has
helped to produce a great irony
and great paradox in India's
posture and policy in world af-
fairs: Britain ruled India for gen.
erations. and in manner which
Indians bitterly resented and re-
sisted. During much Of this time,
the United States championed In
dian independence. by moral and
political means which the British
bitterly resented. Yet India is
now friendlier and more admiring
toward Britain than it is toward
the United States.
Many of India's present leaders
were educated and trained by the
British, fairly considerable num-
ber of them in Britain, and a
good many of these men acquired
liking and admiration for the
British in this way.
Still another factor in India's
attitude toward Britain is that
when the British finally left India,
they did so gracefully and gen.
erouSly. Nothing in their rule
became them like the manner of
their giving it up. a good many
Indians seem to think.
India expected copious and un-
critical American economic aid
d1GCl G1lC Wal dklO 1ldS 1CCClVSu
hardly any at all. It also expected
enthusiastic American support for
all Asia's freedom from the West.
but finds the United States sup
porting France in 1ndo-China in
stead. It finds, Furthermore, that
the United States doesn't pay
nearly as much attention to In
dia's wishes as New Delhi thinks
it should.
American racial discrimination
also alienates Indians. Some In
dians have personally experienced
this discrimination, most If not
all know about it, and mono
likes it.
Finally. the Indians, not unlike
other human beings, find it psy-
chologically comforting to have a
scapegoat on which to discharge
their Illustrations. Britain long
played this part and served this
purpose.
If it is psychologically neces-
sary for the Indians to have a