Unchallenged at Home and Abroad: Jawaharlal Nehru's Leadership With the Non-Aligned Movement

The Wire

27-05-2025

May 27 is the death anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru.
As the nation observes today the 61st death anniversary of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, not only the architect of modern India but also of its foreign policy, it may be worth recalling his role in the founding of the Non-Aligned Movement six decades ago.
This month marks the 70th anniversary of conference of Afro-Asian countries held in Bandung, approximately 100 miles from the Indonesian capital of Jakarta, in the last week of May 1955. It was the Bandung Conference which laid the foundations of the Non-Aligned Movement that was to be later inaugurated in the then Yugoslavian capital of Belgrade in 1961.
The Asian Relations Conference was held in New Delhi from March 23 to April 2, 1947 at the initiative of Jawaharlal Nehru, then the Vice-President of Viceroy's Executive Council (interim Prime Minister). It was the first conference of Asian countries ever and Nehru chose Sarojini Naidu, the tallest woman Congress leader (she was president of the Indian National Congress in 1925) to preside over the conference. This was perhaps symbolic of many strides towards women empowerment that India would take after gaining independence a few months later.
As many as 243 delegates from 28 Asian countries participated in the conference which was held in Purana Qila (Old Fort) in New Delhi. Nehru declared in words that have become memorable to be often quoted in the context of India's foreign policy:
'For too long we, of Asia, have been petitioners in Western courts and chancelleries. That story must now belong to the past. We propose to stand on our own feet and to co -operate with all others who are prepared to co-operate with us. We do not intend to be plaything of others.'
Even five months before the conference, within a week of taking over as the interim prime minister, Nehru broadcast to the nation on September 7, 1946:
'We propose, as far as possible, to keep away from the power politics of groups, aligned against one another, which have led in the past to world war, and which may again lead to disasters on an even vaster scale…We are particularly interested in the emancipation of colonial and dependent countries and peoples, and in the recognition in theory and practice of equal opportunities for all races.'
Thus, all the principles of India's foreign policy were enunciated by Nehru at the dawn of the nation's independence: non-alignment, freedom, honour, non-interference and equality of peoples and nations.
With Nehru as the pivot, India, Indonesia and Burma became the nexus of an independent Asian viewpoint.
In 1954 when Gamel Abdul Nasser became the leader of the new Republic of Egypt, the West started putting pressure on him to join the Baghdad Pact. But he was influenced by the example of the three Asian countries and refused to join the Anglo-American pact. Nehru seized the opportunity to broaden the base by including Egypt and other African countries to create a distinctive Afro-Asian presence in world affairs. The idea of a wider conference of Asian and African countries had been earlier mooted at the South East Asian Prime Ministers conference in Colombo, April 1954.
Unchallenged at home, by the beginning of 1955, Nehru had also emerged as one of the most influential leaders in the world. As S. Gopal, wrote in Jawaharlal Nehru – A Biography ( Volume 2, 1947- 1956): 'Abroad his status was equally unchallenged. No single individual had done more, in the years since the Second World War, to project Asia on to the world stage.'
The stage was now set for the first meeting of Afro Asian countries that President Sukarno of Indonesia offered to host at Bandung which an Arab delegate thought 'did not look an Asian city at all. It was too clean.' The conference was held for seven days in the last week of April 1955. But a month earlier, Nehru, who religiously kept parliament informed of all matters – national and international – told the Lok Sabha on March 31:
'When the history of this time is written in the future, two things will stand. One is coming of atomic energy, and the other the emergence of Asia…This conference is something historic. It is unique. Of course, no such thing has ever happened before and the fact of representatives of 1,400 million people meeting even though they have differences amongst themselves is a matter of utmost significance.'
Twenty-nine countries of Asia and Africa were invited to Bandung, including China for the inclusion of which both Nehru and U Nu of Burma had to make extraordinary efforts to convince those who were strongly opposed to China's participation.
The plenary session during the historic Bandung Conference. Photo: Public domain.
The conference lasted seven days, the highlights of which are best described in the words of Nehru himself:
'The Bandung Conference has played an important role. It has represented various forces that have been developing in the past few years and has compelled the attention of other countries to these new developments. While the fact that there are some new independent countries in Asia is known to everybody, the real significance of this is not always appreciated. There is, in large parts of Asia and Africa, an intense desire to be left free to work out our destiny. We want progress at a rapid rate. But with all our past memories of colonial domination, we suspect any attempt at interference or patronage…
'The aggressive attitudes of communism or anti communism find no echo with us and we see no reason whatever why we should lose our own individuality, give up our thinking and become a mere camp follower of others…
'We are little tired of the conflicts and hatreds of Europe and see no reason why we should succumb to them…The Bandung Conference was the first clear enunciation by the countries of Asia especially that they have an individuality and viewpoint which they are not prepared to give up because of the views of or pressure from other countries.'
But, he cautioned, it would be absurd to expect that the Bandung Conference would lead to the solution of international problems: 'The Bandung Conference should not be judged so much from the forceful speeches delivered but from the joint statement issued at the end.'
The joint communique established 10 principles for developing friendship and cooperation among nations some of which were:
a) respect for the fundamental human rights and principles of the UN Charter; b) respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nation; c) abstention from intervention or interference in the internal affairs of another country; d) refraining from acts or threats of aggression or the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any country; e) settlement of all international disputes by peaceful means; f) recognition of the equality of all races and nations; and
g) respect for justice and international obligations.
Earlier, on May 3, while briefing the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), the Nehru said:
'A rather remarkable thing is that at the conclusion of the Conference almost every country has commended it, has approved of it- certainly the American press, the British press, the French press, the Russian press, the Chinese press and others. It is a remarkable thing that something should be done which is approved of by all these people who usually never agree about anything.'
Winston Churchill, Nehru's one-time foe, wrote to him, almost two months after Bandung, on June 30, 1955:
'I always admired your ardent wish for peace and the absence of bitterness in your consideration of the antagonisms that had in the past divided us. Yours is indeed a heavy burden and responsibility, shaping the destiny of your many millions of countrymen, and playing your outstanding part in world affairs.'
In this letter, and another one he had written a few months earlier Churchill used the phrase 'the light of Asia' for Nehru.
So what may be the relevance of Bandung today?
Its 70th anniversary is a good opportunity for India, Indonesia and some other countries of Asia and Africa, to revive the Non-Aligned Movement, which in the words of late prime minister Indira Gandhi, the chairperson of the movement in 1983, was the 'history's biggest peace movement.'
In a recent article in a daily, former foreign secretary Shyam Saran wrote: 'The Bandung Principles or Das Sila remain valid as norms for inter-state relations and for creating a more democratic world order. They should be revived. NAM, which incorporated the Bandung Spirit, became the the largest peace movement in history, creating a zone of peace between contending ideological and military blocs. We need a similar space free of great power contestation.'
But for that to happen India needs a leadership that has the wisdom, vision and global stature of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Praveen Davar is an ex-Army officer, columnist and editor of The Secular Saviour.