File pic: A memorial for soldiers who fought in the 1962 India-China war
A classified report has blamed the Jawaharlal Nehru government's "forward policy" and the army leadership for India's humiliating defeat in the 1962 war against China. The report, which has been kept secret by the government for decades, has been made public by an Australian journalist.
Ahead of a bitterly fought national election, the report has sparked a political row with the BJP demanding that the government make it public.
Here are 10 developments in the story:
More than 120 pages of the classified Henderson Brooks report critiquing India's military response during the war with China have been posted online by Australian journalist and historian Neville Maxwell, who reported on India in the 1960s. (read: 10 strong points in Henderson Brooks report)
The report has criticised the Nehru government, military and intelligence agencies for assuming that the Chinese would not escalate hostilities when they should have thought the exact opposite.
It describes a massive chasm between the political and military leadership at the time and a misunderstanding of India's military capability. The government, it says, ordered the "Forward Policy" to counter Chinese troops "without the means to implement it effectively".
The Forward Policy, which called for military outposts and aggressive patrolling in areas claimed by the Chinese, increased the chances of conflict, the report has said.
It also assesses that the government, specifically the defence ministry, may have pressured the army to act. "To base military actions and place in jeopardy the security of troops on suppositions and beliefs put across at conference tables indicates either acceptance of the belief or a militarily unsound mind," it noted.
The report, commissioned by the Indian army, was limited to a review of the military response and not political decision-making. The authors, Lt-General Henderson Brooks and Brigadier PS Bhagat, were officers in the Indian army.
The Indian government has refused to declassify the report, calling it "extremely sensitive" with a bearing on India-China ties. Only two copies of the report are with the Defence Ministry.
The BJP has seized the excerpts to target the Congress on one of its top icons, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was prime minister during the 1962 war. "The report should be made public. Everyone has the right to know. We lost the war because of Nehru," said BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad.
The BJP's ideological mentor, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, used harsher words. "Our leadership lied to d nation, hid info n lived n a romantic world. Result: War lost, territory lost, also loss of face (sic)," tweeted RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav.
In response, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said, "Everybody knows what happened in 1962. On the eve of elections they are trying to play politics on such issues." He denied any attempt by the government to block the website of the journalist who posted the report.
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