INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NEW DELHI: Henry Kissinger, who died on Thursday aged 100, was never one to mince words and there certainly was no love lost when it came to
India and its policies, especially during the height of the Cold War.The former Secretary of State greatly influenced global affairs under
Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford between 1969 and 1977, garnering both vilification and the Nobel Peace Prize.However, there were
reportedly described Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as a "b***h"
He also said "the Indians are b******s", shortly before the war
Kissinger later expressed his regret over the comments.According to a taped conversation, President Richard Nixon cited a meeting with
Indira Gandhi the previous day
wanted too," Kissinger replied, as quoted in the report
Indians are b******s anyway," he added
Bass, a professor of politics and international affairs, wrote that as millions of traumatised Bengali refugees fled the Pakistan army,
Kissinger was indignant at the Indians on June 3, 1971
According to Kissinger, the Indians were responsible for the refugee flow by sponsoring the Bengali insurgency covertly
Kissinger then condemned Indians as a whole, his voice oozing with contempt, "They are a scavenging people".A hint of respectFor all his
criticism of Indira Gandhi, Kissinger once acknowledged that the then US Republican administration had always wished it had a man as
"strong" as the "formidable Indira Gandhi"."Our relations with India are friendly and aloof
It's a fortunate thing the Indians are pacifists, otherwise, their neighbours would be worried
The first time we were in India, they told me that Kabul belonged to India too," Kissinger has been recorded as having said according to a
White House Memo.In his book World Order, Kissinger said:"Emerging into a world of established powers and the Cold War, independent India
subtly elevated freedom of maneuver from a bargaining tactic into an ethical principle ..
"breastbeating".Kissinger wanted to avoid any action that could antagonise India and further complicate US-India relations
In his role as national security adviser to president Nixon, Kissinger sent a note to his White House deputy in which he took a rather
scornful approach to the nuclear nonproliferation agenda
mainly reflective of a "self-serving and self-promoting tendency [designed] for the domestic record".Change in attitude towards IndiaAfter
the end of the Cold War and the emergence of India as a strong power in the last 10 decades, his views on India changed and for successive
administrations, Kissinger advocated strong ties with India
He acknowledged that the Cold War and the Bangladesh crisis pushed India and US to the "edge of confrontations"
"India was at the beginning of a historic evolution and not all of the problems that concerned us were of equal importance to India
India was heavily involved with its own evolution and the policy of neutrality," he had said
But by 2008 he recognised that "India has parallel objectives to the United States", and he called India an ally of the US
"I would say no two countries now are better situated to evolve their friendship," Kissinger said."When I think about India, I admire their
strategy," Kissinger said during a leadership summit of the US India Strategic and Partnership Forum in June 2018.After Narendra Modi became
the Prime Minister in 2014, Kissinger, also the former US National Security Adviser, started advocating strong ties with India
In fact, many say, over the past few years he had become "a great fan" of PM Modi.When PM Modi was in the US on an official State Visit in
June this year, Kissinger travelled to Washington to listen to Modi's address.Kissinger further recognised that India will be a "fulcrum of
"India will be an indispensable element, based on its geography, resources, and tradition of sophisticated leadership, in the strategic and
ideological evolution of the regions and the concepts of order at whose intersection it stands," he had said.(With inputs from
agencies)WatchControversial yet influential: Henry Kissinger, singular US diplomat, dead at 100
