JAWAHARLAL NEHRU AND UNITED NATIONS (UN)

Jawaharlal Nehru who had witnessed the destruction during the two devastating world wars was always impatient to find ways and means, which could bring about a climate of understanding and tolerance with a view to settling differences without resorting to the horrors of war. He was staunch believer in the world peace and the concept of one world.

Nehru admired President Wilson for his statesmanship towards realizing a world order when the League of Nations was founded on 10^th January 1920; Nehru was not in a position to give it the required support for certain obvious reasons. The manner in which India was represented (or not represented) in the League, failed to be a Universal Organization.

After independence, Nehru made it one of the Chief corner stones of India’s foreign policy to support and work within the UN and to mediate whenever possible and desirable. Hence, Indian troops to Gaza strip Congo and the deputing of Generals in his capacity as Chairman of the Korean Repatriation Commission. A number of significant events have also marked India’s Association with the UN the most notable being the spontaneous tribute, which it paid to Mahatma Gandhi when his life was cut short by an assassin’s bullet. Nehru directly appealed to Stalin and Dean Acheson for admission of the People’s Republic of China to the UN and for a conference between the United States of America (U.S.A.) and the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) and China with a view to achieving a solution of the Korean Crisis. Some of the published letters of Nehru to the then representative at the UN clearly reflect Nehru’s wisdom and caution in dealing with the problem within the framework of the UN Charter.

One of the most important tasks for the UN according to Nehru was to ensure an effective machinery to achieve disarmament, which alone could bring confidence and hope for survival among the people.

He realized those preparations for nuclear warfare or the test explosions were in keeping with any conception of international or moral law. He laid great stress on the specialized agencies of the UN as they could provide economic and social aid to the underdeveloped countries.

Nehru felt that however undemocratic the veto might be in theory, it should not be abolished from the Charter as the voting right given to the big powers reflected the reality of international power politics.

The UN despite its numerous weaknesses and shortcomings is the Chief repository of our hopes and aspirations for security as well as welfare UN is a mirror of the world we live in and if the reflection is ugly, it is not the mirror, which is to blame.

The UN paid rich tributes to Nehru at his birth centenary for his contribution to the struggle against apartheid in South Africa and consistent support for the United Nations and said, “When we commemorate Nehru, we indirectly commemorate what is good and tasting in the UN”.

With the dramatic end of the crucial cold war era and the disintegration of Soviet Union, the U.N. and its role should be critically assessed and analyzed as it needs now structural changes to get the real feel of the existing unipolar international scenario.

U.S. invasion of Iraq on flimsy grounds has greatly affected the performance of the UN. The League of Nations failed for similar reasons and now it seems to be the turn of the UN. If the UN fails, our dreams of peace and security will vanish. John F. Kennedy rightly said, “Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind”.