Nehru responsible for 1962 Indo China War defeat: Secret Report reveals

New Delhi, March 18: The most confidential top secret Henderson Brooks report regarding 1962 Indo China War, has blamed the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for India’s debacle in 1962 India-China war.

This report has critically reviewed India’s defense preparedness and strategies during the 1962 war with China. Interestingly the website http://www.nevillemaxwell.com/ has been smartly blocked by the Government.

The report critically analyses the Forward Policy forced by the Tem Prime Minister and the Defence Minister Krishna Menon. The report clearly alleges the failure of political leadership of that time as the most significant reason of India's defeat in 1962 Indo China war. The Report also suggests that it was not China, but then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Defence Minister V K Krishna Menon's arrogant belief that they would solve the crisis through diplomacy and that China would not dare attack India despite the latter's 'Forward Policy'.

The report was authored by Lieutenant General Henderson Brooks and Brigadier PS Bhagat, then commandant of the Indian Military Academy, soon after the war. It was commissioned by Lieutenant General JN Chaudhuri who had just taken over as chief of Army staff in 1962.

For the first time, a large section of the still classified Henderson Brooks Report has been made public.

The 190 paged report section of the first volume of the report, which includes an exhaustive operational review of the India-China war over both western and eastern sectors, has been published by Australian journalist Neville Maxwell on his website.

The classified report discusses on “how the Army was ordered to challenge the Chinese military to a conflict it could only lose,” according to Maxwell, a retired foreign correspondent who was based in Delhi at the time of the war.
The report, in its Section 2 regarding Forward Policy Decision, says-

“A meeting, however, was held in the Prime Minister’s office on 2 November, 1961 and was attended amongst others by the defence minister, intelligence bureau. It appears that the DIB was of the opinion that “Chinese would not react to our establishing new posts and that they were NOT LIKELY TO USE FORCE AGAINST ANY OF OUR POSTS EVEN IF THEY WERE IN A POSITION TO DO SO”
This was contrary to the military intelligence appreciation, as brought out in the Conclusion of Army HQ annual review, which clearly indicated that the Chinese would resist by force any attempt to take back territory held by them.”

This report continues to be considered classified by the Indian Government.

As late as April 2010, Defence Minister AK Antony told Parliament that the contents of the report are “not only extremely sensitive but are of current operational value.”

Maxwell, who wrote a controversial account of the reasons that led to India’s defeat in his work, India’s China War, says on his website that he has always had access to the report and had waited for it to be declassified. He says he has now decided to put a large part of the report in the public domain because of India’s unwillingness to release it, says the report.

Explaining his decision to release, for the first time, four chapters of the still classified report, Mr. Maxwell said he believed he was “complicit in a continuing cover-up” by keeping the report to himself.

“The reasons for the long-term withholding of the report must be political, indeed probably partisan, perhaps even familial,” he wrote in an explanatory note on his website.

The report impeaches the highest levels of the government, from the PMO of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Defence Ministry. It also criticizes the Forward Policy, which was enforced.

While the Nehru Government’s forward policy has been widely analyzed and criticized as being a contributor, Maxwell says on his website that the report holds India’s first Prime Minister personally responsible for the war. “The reasons for the long-term withholding of the report must be political, indeed probably partisan, perhaps even familial,” says Maxwell whose website revealing the eport has been blocked.

The explosive report has come at the time when Indian voter is all set to vote for the Lok sabha elections. The Report and revelations have provided enough cannon fodder against the dynastic Congress party and the failed Congress led UPA regime.