The Magical Hold over Nehru of BM Kaul and BN Mullick

 Lt General BM Kaul

 Recently there was a news item that Indian government has sanctioned an additional 5 mountain divisions or 100,000 troops exclusively to face China in the Northern border. This shows the leadership is alive to the threat  from China. Perhaps 1962 will not be repeated. But at this juncture one can look back to that period  and see that it was an unreal time and the 3 principle characters in this sordid drama were Nehru, BM Kaul and BN Mullick.

The popular perception in India among the people  is that China launched an unprovoked attack on India in 1962. Two Books one by Brigadier Dalvi titled ‘Himalayan Blunder’ and the other by Neville Maxwell ‘India’s China war ‘however belie this claim. From these accounts one can gauge that the immediate provocation for the Chinese attack was the ‘forward policy’ enunciated by Nehru on the advice of two people namely his distant cousin Lieutenant General BM Kaul and BN Mullick, the then chief of the Intelligence Bureau. Both these men completely misled Nehru.

Nehru and BM Kaul

Lieutenant General BM Kaul had won the confidence of the Prime Minister Nehru and though he was a Sandhurst graduate, he had passed through the Second World War without battle action and had spent time  mainly as a PRO (public relations officer). This man could inveigle into the inner circle of Nehru and became the main advisor on all military matters. The forward policy as defined by Nehru was to set up border posts in areas which India claimed as their own, in close proximity to Chinese troops who were in over whelming strength The posts manned by 8-10 soldiers were unsustainable in a conflict, yet Nehru and Kaul insisted on their inception. This obviously alarmed the Chinese who began a massive build up against India. The result was a border war that tarnished the reputation of general Kaul and Nehru and the Indian Army cut a sorry face. Kaul has gone down in history as a losing general, while Nehru has had his reputation tarnished at the door of history.

 Now that 50 years have elapsed, it is important that the lessons of history are learn't to avoid arepitition of the blunders of 1962.