INDIAN POLICY IN WAR

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25935, 15 October 1949, Page 7

INDIAN POLICY IN WAR

PANDIT NEHRU SPEAKS TO U.S. CONGRESS “CANNOT BE NEUTRAL” TO AGGRESSION (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8.50 p.m.) WASHINGTON. October 13. India’s Prime Minister (Pandit Nehru) told Congress to-day that India “cannot be and shall not be neutral” in the event of any world aggression or threat to freedom. In identical speeches to the House of Representatives and the Senate, Pandit Nehru '•aid: “Every prayer an Indian raises ends with an invocation to peace.” Mr Gandhi, he said, had taught Indians a technique of action which was peaceful yet effective, and yielded results that led India not only to freedom but to friendship with those with whom she had been in conflict. Pleading for understanding of India’s foreign policy of aloofness m the cold war. Pandit Nehru said: “We have to achieve freedom and defend it. We have to meet aggression and resist it, and the force employed must be adequate to the purpose. Cut even when preparing to resist aggression, the ultimate objective of peace and reconciliation must never le lost sight of. Heart and mind must be attuned to this supreme aim, and not swayed or clouded by hatred or fear. "This is the basis and goal of our foreign policy. We are neither blind to reality nor do we propose to acquiesce in any challenge to man’s freedom, from whatever quarter it may come. Where freedom is menaced or justice is threatened, or where aggression takes place, we cannot be and shall not be neutral.”