Page 1 of 7

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e‐ISSN: 2395‐0463

Volume 02 Issue 04

April 2016

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ Page | 251

Non alignment policy of Pt. J.L. Nehru on the

Cold War

Dr. Dilbag Singh Bisla

Director,

Centre for Rajiv Gandhi Reseach & Studies,

Aryan’s Institute, Rati Bad, Bhopal

The governing considerations in

Nehru’s foreign policy were three. First,

India, and other countries of Asia and

Africa emerging into independence,

must to longer be used as pawns by

other nations in their international game;

they must be free to decide on their own

a policies and play their part in the

maintenance of peace.1

The second was the urgent need

to provide a fair and equitable social and

economic foundation for our young

democracy. There are many facets in

Nehru’s dynamic personality, but none

is so basic as his love for democracy.2

He had read history widely, (though,

tragically, he had to read and ponder

over it in prison) and he had early come

to the conclusion that neither fascism

nor com-munism would give an

appropriate political basis for a freedom- loving people. The third consideration

was the need for maintaining the terri- torial integrity of India. This needs no

claboration.

The Second World War resulted

in bringing into pre-eminence the two

great Powers, the United States of

America and the Soviet Union and a line

was drawn in Europe ‘the crossing of

which was recognised as a casus belli.’

3

What is meaning of Cold Was ?

It means different things to different

people. Soviet union the expression

Cold War is used to describe upon, or

criticisms of, communist achieve-ments

or policies. To the Westerners Cold War

means, by and large, ‘a state of affairs in

which nations, while renouncing the

methods of hot war as a means of

settling their disputes, nevertheless

pursue these dis-putes by all other

means open to them, with a view, not to

the ultumate settlement of the disputes

or to a general reconciliation, but to a

victory of one side over the other.’4

Who intiated the Cold War ?

According to the West. The initiative in

the Cold War remained on the

communist side. On the other hand, D.F.

Fleming observes, ‘The basis for the

cold war was laid on April 23, [1945] in

the scourging which Truman

administered to Molotov, giving notice

that in areas of the most crucial concern

to Russia our wishes must be obeyed.’5

The post-war ambitions of the

super-powers were responsible for the

onset of Cold War in Europe.6

It may be

said that the Cold War, as we recognise

now, began after the Second World

War.7

Page 2 of 7

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e‐ISSN: 2395‐0463

Volume 02 Issue 04

April 2016

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ Page | 252

The history of the Cold War,

which is nothing but ‘an account of the

follies and frustrations in which

Americans and Russians alike have

involved themselves since alliance gave

way to animosity after World War.8

Here we are concerned only with the

Indian attitude towards the Cold War.

India attained Independence the Cold

War had already started. The

polarization of a large part of the world

into the Soviet bloc and Western bloc

had taken shape.

Explaining India’s stand Nehru

said, ‘We have sought to avoid foreign

entangle-ments by not joining one bloc

or the other.9

Speaking in the

Constituent Assembly (Legislative) on 8

March 1949, Nehru said:

I feel that India can play

a big part, may be an

effective part, in

helping to avoid a war.

Therefore it becomes all

the more neessary that

India should not be

lined up with any group

of powers which for

various reasons are full

of fear of war and

preparing for war.10

India feared that by joining one

bloc or the other she would not be able

to exercise her independent judgment on

international issues. The policy of non- align-ment was formulated in the

context of the Cold War.

Non-alignment did not mean

neutrality, as was wrongly inter-preted

in some quarters. In one of his speeches

in the Constituent Assembly

(Legislative) on 4 December 1947,

Nehru said,

We are not going to join

a war if we can help it,

and we are going to join

the side which is to our

interest when the time

comes to make the

choice.11

India wanted to prevent a third

world war altogether or at least, by

holding its outbreak, till her economic

plans were well underway and also to

keep herself in a position from where if

a war occurred, she would not be

obliged or faced to plunge into it.

Explaining this position Nehru said,

If and when disaster

comes it will affect the

world as a whole, Our

first effort should be to

prevent that disaster

from happening. It that

proves beyond us, we

must at any rate, try to

avoid disaster or retain

a position in which we

shall be able to

minimise as much as

possible the

consequences of that

disaster even if it

comes.12

In short, in the interest of

economic development ot the country,

for maintaining the independence of

action in foreign affairs, for safe- guarding the security of the nation and

for working effectively for world peace,

Page 3 of 7

Journal for Studies in Management and Planning

Available at http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/

e‐ISSN: 2395‐0463

Volume 02 Issue 04

April 2016

Available online: http://edupediapublications.org/journals/index.php/JSMaP/ Page | 253

India decided to keep away from the

rival Power blocs and follow an

independent foreign policy.

But during the early years of her

independence, India was closer to the

western bloc than to the Soviet bloc,

compelled mainly by economic reasons

and her own belief in parliamentary

democracy. In a speech delivered at the

Indian Council of World Affairs, New

Delhi, on 22 March 1949, Nehru said:

When I say that we

should not align

ourselves with any

power blocs, obviously

it does mean that we

shoul not be closer in

our relations with some

countries than with

others. That depends on

entirely different

factors, chiefly

economic, political,

agricultural and many

other factors. At the

present moment you

will see that as a matter

of fact we have far

closer relations with

some countries of the

Western world than

with others. It is partly

due to history and partly

due to other factors.

These close relations

will no doubt develop

and we will encourage

them to develop.13

Within india, the Government was

strongly resisting communist vio-lence during

this period.

India’s attitude towards the

Cold War crystallized only after October

1949, when the communists came to

power in mainland China. Realising that

it would not be in India’s best interests

to move closer to one bloc than the other

it retraced its steps from the western

camp and adopted a middle of the road

policy.14

The large number of agreements

entered into by India with several

nations since 1947 of a cultural,

economic and political (promotion of

peace) character will testify to this

desire to be friendly with all nations.

Further, to Nehru, nonalignment is not

equivalent to neutrality, for neutrality

connotes a certain passivity, a desire

even to refrain from expressing views

on international issues; on the contrary,

India has spoken clearly and with

conviction on fundamental international

developments, nonalignment did not

mean for Nehru that India was

committed to neutrality in the event of

the outbreak of a war. “We are not going

to join a war if we can help it,” he said

in 1947, “and we are going to join the

side which is to our interest when the

choice comes to it.

Nehru took the view that joining

one bioc or the other was not to India’s

interest; and he consistently followed

the policy of non-alignment. His

argument may be summarized thus; self- respect demands that India should be

free to express her opinion on the merits