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People in OP's dhaaga are ruing the destruction of the benign, kind, peaceful, indulgent India of ye olden days by the Fascist dictator who is taking it down the path of conflict and occupation. So let's do a short thread in which we examine the history, shall we?
In 1948, less than a year after independence, Nehru did not hesitate to airlift troops to Kashmir in order to secure her territory. He continued the war for almost a year after the UN called for peace.
Around the same time, neither he nor Patel had any qualms in using coercion to get Junagadh and Hyderabad to accede to India – invading de-facto independent states in order to annex them.
In 1961, India again used military force to attack a NATO country and forcibly annex Goa, Daman, and Diu.
The 1962 war with China was caused in no small part by Nehru's aggressive "Forward Policy".
Side note: Bertil Litner in China's India War argues the exact opposite [hat tip: @d_extrovert for pointing me towards it], so let's chalk that up as a "maybe".
frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl…
Side note: Bertil Litner in China's India War argues the exact opposite [hat tip: @d_extrovert for pointing me towards it], so let's chalk that up as a "maybe".
frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl…
In 1965, Lal Bahadur Shastri escalated a limited conflict with Pakistan into a full-blown war by developing a threat to Lahore after Indian forces began to come under increasing pressure in Kashmir.
In 1966, the IAF was ordered to bomb MNF strongholds in Mizoram, probably the only time it has been called to direct violence against Indian citizens.
In 1971, it was India that steadily crept into East Pakistan using tanks and artillery – and did not hesitate to go to war against a US treaty ally and then proceed to break it into two.
I could go on and on. Operations Blue Star and Meghdoot in 1984. Operation Pawan in 1987. Operation Cactus in 1989. Line-straightening operations in Kashmir after Kargil. Ongoing CI ops in Kashmir and the North East …
… ARE YOU GETTING THE MESSAGE?
… ARE YOU GETTING THE MESSAGE?
The image of India as a "peaceful nation" has got to be one of our finest PR victories. For a supposedly peaceful nation, India has been surprisingly proactive in using force to achieve policy outcomes.
