The Catholic times. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1951-current, 1958-05-23
Indian Politics:
Neutralism Due To Religion
More Than Red Influence
by Erik V. KuehneIt-L eddihn

Most Americans never get a chance to see India,
a country Wnere oneSlxth OF mankind Is living.
When they read in the newspapers about India
it is usually the foreign policy, the neutrallsm, and
the political behaviour OF that country which jars
them-and, to be quite frank, they don't please me
either.
Yet we should recall the French saying accord
ing to which to understand means to forgive.
We already hinted that gratitude" in our sense
is not TO be expected in India or a~nywhera in the
Middle Tor Near) East. The Asians, like the South or
East Europeans, can never be bought for cash.
They can only be hired. Alliances and coalitions
in the East are usually formed on account Of mutual
symPathies and these are erninenfly human; they can-
not be explained by Iogies or mathematical formulate.
The ASiatic mind does not work as ours does. |
will never forget the taxi driver in Saigon who did not
understand French but, rather than tell me, drove off
as soon as ] sat down. After a while | could see that
the man was covered with sweat and trembled all
over.
Half and hour later a policeman, called upon to
intervene, found out that my driver was not drugged,
he was merely terrified and did not dare confess that
ne had not understood me like a frightened child
he drove around in circles hoping that some time his
agony would come to an end.
In New Delhi a cab driver whom / had told to
60 to No. l Alexandra Place, the Chancery of the
Cathedral, finally wound up before No. / Windsor
Place. The excuse? "Well it's a Place too, isn't it?'
Indiats neutralism in foreign policy is much less
the result of Leffisf influences than we are wont to
believe. Its explanation is TO be found in the eountry's
religious background and its deeprooted dislike for
people in India are the sikhs and the Mohsmmedsns.
The notion OF a foreign war; is alien to the
Hindu and the old British Army was composed mostly
of Moslems Whose majority now lives in P~akistanl
of Sikhs, and Gurghas who came from Nepal.
Mohandas Gandhi preached a policy of non-coop-
Grafton, not of armed rebellion. The Knight in Shin
ing Armor' is a Christian, not a Hindu ideal.
Thus the European land American) appears to
the Indian as a very tough guy, a hard, rational, cal
culating brutal, and "cold" person, hellbent to con-
quer, to s%ubjugate, and to master.
The only conquest worthwhile to the Hindu is
the conquest Of oneself. Nehru's ~neutralst policy $50
different from the definite -anticommunist alignment
of Muslin Pakistan) has the full backing of most
Indians "high' and Slows.
We should not kid ourselves about this. India
after all. is a country where a certain sect, because
wear gaUze masks over their mouths in order not to-
swallow insects during sleep and thus to kill
All this does not mean that there are no Leftists,
no Communists in India. In the Deep South, in the
State of Kerala, they even form the government.
Not that the people of Kerala are convinced
Communists, but they hate the Central Government
in New Delhi and they therefore voted Communist
out of sheer spite.
There are also some Intellectual Communists in
India and they have quite a hold on the film industry.
Take a film like "Mother India by the Mehdoob
company featuring the famous actress Nargeez), and
you will see a subtle piece of leftism, collectivisnn,
and class hatred in every scene, as well as some con-
cessions to religious sentiments such as the frequent
featuring of dear, sweet, sacred cows. In its symbols
this company is less squeamish because it sports
hammer and sickle as a trade mark.
They believe in reincarnation after death. Pow
erty lasts merely a lifetime. In the next life one
might belong to a higher cast or have a great deal
more cash-which is by no means the same thing,
but this we will discuss another time.