Amit Shah claims Nehru bid ‘bye bye to Assam' during 1962 war: What former PM said, in what context

Indian Express

4 days ago

Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday (July 29) accused former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of bidding goodbye to Assam during the 1962 war.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha during the Operation Sindoor debate, Shah addressed Assam Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, saying, 'Gogoiji has been saying a lot of things…do you know what he [Nehru] did to Assam? He waved bye bye to Assam on Akashvani…There is a recording of this.'
This is not the first time the BJP has used Nehru's 1962 radio address to claim that Nehru had virtually surrendered Assam to China during the war. Last year, at an election rally in Lakhimpur, Shah had said, 'During the Chinese aggression of 1962, Nehru had said 'bye-bye' to Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. People of these states can never forget that.'
In March 2024, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had written in The Indian Express, 'When Jawaharlal Nehru, as a Prime Minister abandoned Assam amidst the 1962 Indo-China war while claiming his heart went out to the people of Assam, Prime Minister Modi repeatedly called the region Ashtalakshmi and Bharat's growth engine.'
What exactly did Nehru say in the radio address, and did he bid 'bye bye' to Assam? What did he say about the 1962 war in Parliament? What was his remark about not a blade of grass growing in Aksai Chin? We explain.
The 1962 war lasted for barely a month, from October 20 to November 21. China invaded India from two sides, in the west around the Ladakh region and in the east in the Northeast Frontier Agency (today's Arunachal Pradesh and parts of Assam). On both fronts, its victories were swift and decisive. It managed to capture the strategically crucial Tawang (in the present Arunachal Pradesh), and advanced further.
It was in this context that Nehru addressed the nation on November 19, 1962, in Hindi. The 'heart goes out to Assam' line goes thus, 'Is waqt kuch Assam ke upar, Assam ke darwaaze par, dushman hai, aur Assam khatre mein hai. Isliye khas taur se hamara dil jata hai hamare bhai air bahinon par, jo Assam mein rehtein hain, unki hamdardi mein, kyunki unkon taqleef uthani pad rahi hai…Hum unki poori madad karne ki koshish karenge aur karenge, lekin kitni bhi hum madad karein, hum unko taqleef se nahin bacha lenge is waqt. Haan, ek baat ka hum pakka irdada rakhtein hain…hum is baat ko aakhiri dum tak chaleyenge jab tak Assam aur sara Hindustan bilkul dushman se khaali na ho jaaye,' [Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Volume 79].
The translation from the Selected Works, of a larger section of the speech, is, 'Huge Chinese armies have been marching in the northern part of the North East Frontier Agency and we have suffered reverses at Walong, on the Sela Ridge and today Bomdila — a small town in NEFA has also fallen. In the North also in Ladakh, in the Chushul area, the Chinese have been attacking fiercely, though they have been held. Now what has happened is very serious and very saddening to us and I can well understand what our friends in Assam must be feeling because all this is happening on their doorstep, one might say. I want to tell them that we feel very much for them and that we shall help them to the utmost of our ability. We may not be able always to succeed in what we are trying now because of various factors and of the overwhelming numbers of the Chinese forces, but I want to take a pledge to them, here and now, that we shall see this matter to the end and the end will have to be victory for India.'
Thus, the speech asserts that the government would drive the enemy out of Assam, and when the PM spoke of his heart going out, he was acknowledging the troubles the people of Assam would have to suffer.
Aditya Mukherjee, retired Professor of Contemporary History and Director, Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Advanced Study, JNU, told The Indian Express, 'To read Nehru's 1962 AIR speech as 'bidding goodbye to Assam' does not stand scrutiny. While it is a stretch to read 'my heart goes out' as abandoning Assam, the rest of the speech makes it clear that Nehru was determined to fight for every inch of Indian land. The speech does not show any intention of surrendering, instead, it shows a resolve to keep fighting a difficult fight.'
Nehru's comments on the war on other occasions
Nehru spoke about the 1962 war multiple times in Parliament, giving information and answering the Opposition's questions even when the fighting was on. The speeches have the common theme of not surrendering to the enemy.
For example, in Parliament on November 19, 1962, after giving details of the defeats suffered by the Indian Army, Nehru said, 'I should like to add that in spite of the reverses suffered by us, we are determined not to give in in any way and we shall fight the enemy, however long it may take to repel him and drive him out of our country.'
Amit Shah Tuesday also said that Nehru gave 'non-serious' replies in Parliament, citing as example his comment about not a blade of grass growing in Aksai Chin.
Nehru's Aksai Chin remark was made in August 1959, before the India China war, and he had clarified it in Parliament.
Here's that exchange [(Jawaharlal Nehru: Selected Speeches, Volume 4].
Speaking about Chinese incursions into Ladakh, Nehru said in Lok Sabha, 'When we discovered in 1958, more than a year ago, that a road had been built across Yehcheng in the north-east corner of Ladakh, we were worried. We did not know where it was. Hon. Members asked why we did not know before. It is a relevant question, but the fact is that it is an uninhabitable area, 17.000 feet high. It had not been under any kind of administration. Nobody has been present there. It is a territory where not even a blade of grass grows. It adjoins Sinkiang.'
Jaswant Singh later said, 'The Prime Minister stated a little while ago that this portion of Ladakh is absolutely desolate and unfertile and that not even a blade of grass grows there. Even then, China is attaching importance to the area and is building a road there. I would like to know, when China is attaching so much of importance to this desolate bit of land, why, when the territory is ours or is under dispute even, do we not attach any importance to it?'
Nehru then replied, 'I talked only about the Yehcheng area, not about the whole of Ladakh… Presumably the Chinese attach importance to this area because of the fact that the route connects part of Chinese Turkestan with Gartok-Yehcheng.'