EXTERNAL Affairs Minister SM Krishna seems to be an avatar of the late Krishna Menon. The latter’s greatest achievement as Defence Minister was his fooling of the Indian public in the face of China’s clearly hostile intentions. As late as September 1962, even as intelligence piled up and the US informed India that at least 10 PLA divisions had been massed along India’s borders, he kept insisting that China posed no threat. Krishna is doing a repeat. Since taking over, he has spent a good deal of time offering untenable explanations about China’s sustained move to dam the Tsangpo, which later becomes the Brahmaputra. Amazingly, he has even used China’s statement that there is no plan to divert the water of the Tsangpo. His latest move – asking the Indian embassy in Beijing to provide information on the issue – has left defence and intelligence officials tearing their hair. They have forwarded to the PMO satellite images of China’s escalated dam-building activity at the point where the river first moves north and then turns south to flow into India.
Like Jawaharlal Nehru kept silent on the deeds of his illustrious Defence Minister, Manmohan Singh is doing the same – perhaps keen not to ruffle the Middle Kingdom. The bottomline: there is as much political leadership in the defence of India today as during the Nehru years.
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