Bandung and the fruits of Nehru's mango diplomacy

Economic Times

21-05-2025

In 1955, Prime Minister Nehru used mangoes—specifically Alphonsos—as a soft power tool during pivotal Cold War diplomacy. These sweet gestures, such as sharing mangoes with Chinese Premier Chou En-Lai, helped ease tensions and build trust among leaders at the historic Bandung Conference in Indonesia. The summit marked the rise of the Non-Aligned Movement, offering an alternative to U.S.-Soviet polarization.
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On April 26, 1955, The Times of India (ToI) reported that an Air India plane, Maratha Princess, was carrying 13 cases of mangoes to Indonesia: 'Bombay's summer delight, the luscious alfonso, will be served to delegates who attended the historic Afro-Asian Conference in Bandung.'This would ultimately lead to the Non-Aligned Movement that countered the US-Soviet polarities of the Cold War. Then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru was one of the key movers in this process and mangoes were one of his secret weapons. In a piece titled ' Mango Diplomacy ' published in ToI in 1955, D R Mankekar noted how Nehru took mangoes to Moscow and 'the Soviet leaders saw new light and tasted new sweetness in the world'.That same year, Chinese premier Chou En-Lai had come to New Delhi. It was one of the first visits made by a Chinese leader to a major noncommunist country and a big step towards ending China's years of isolationism. At dinner, Nehru himself sliced the mangoes and showed how to spoon up the flesh: 'As premier Chou dug his teeth into the pulpy slice, his beetling brows relaxed, his lips rippled into a smile and there was a new benign light in his eyes,' wrote Mankekar.Chou's India visit led to his attendance at Bandung, at significant risk to himself. Air India plane Kashmir Princess was bombed on April 11 en route to Bandung, with the loss of 16 passengers and crew. Chou was meant to be on it, but he had not got on board, possibly because of intelligence about the activities of anti-communist agents. It is also a measure of China's isolation that Chou was flying Air India, as he had done earlier when visiting India. Many countries didn't allow the passage of Chinese planes.In Australian scholar Andrea Benvenuti's book Nehru's Bandung , he notes that the Bandung conference was first proposed by Ali Sastroamidjojo, the prime minister of Indonesia, and Nehru was initially dubious about the geopolitical complexities involved. He was also sceptical about the Indonesians pulling off the practicalities of a big event, writing to the Indian ambassador in Jakarta about 'an adequate provision of bathrooms and lavatories, etc. People can do without drawing rooms, but they cannot do without bathrooms and lavatories'.The success of meetings with Chinese and Russian leaders seems to have enthused Nehru about trying to find alternatives to the stark divisions of the Cold War. He became enthusiastic about Bandung and deputed many Indian officials to help. Benvenuti quotes British and Australian diplomats' appreciative comments about the difference this made and Nehru was identified as one of the sponsors of the conference, along with Indonesian president Sukarno and Egyptian president Nasser.The conference has been called the birth date of the Third World as a global political force — which explains the hostility of the First World to its memory. Western commentators are derisive about the mostly dismal later fortunes of Bandung's leaders and the abiding lack of development in its participating countries. They accuse NAM of being co-opted by the USSR into becoming an antiWestern forum and now entirely a non-entity.Yet, this overlooks the point that Nehru and other leaders were trying to make, which was that their national aspirations deserved more respect than being forced into artificial divides of communism and anti-communism. The real winner at Bandung was China, who used it as a stepping stone to international acceptance and the increasing power of its authoritarian nationalist approach. It is not quite the outcome Nehru would have wanted, but it set us towards the multipolar world in which we live today.Bandung's 70th anniversary last month was mostly unremembered. Even in Indonesia today, the name is more likely to mean a drink that goes by the same name, made of condensed milk combined with rose syrup and lots of ice. India could consider promoting a mango version, to recall the 1955 conference and how our alphonsos helped with Nehru's diplomacy.