Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy
Independent India’s foreign policy was also rooted in the principles and policies evolved by the
nationalists since the 1870s. Over time, Indian leaders had developed a broad international outlook
based on opposition to colonialism and sy mpathy and support for the peoples fighting for their
independence. In the 1930s and 1940s, the national movement took a strong anti-fascist stand. This
was put forward in a most expressive manner by Gandhi. Condemning Hitler for the genocide of
the Jews, and condoning violence, perhaps for the first time, he wrote in 1938: ‘If there ever could
be a justifiable war in the name of and for humanity , a war against Germany , to prevent the
wanton persecution of a whole race, would be completely justified.’12 The nationalist approach
to world problems during the 1930s was clearly enunciated by Jawaharlal Nehru in his
presidential address at the Lucknow session of the Congress in 1936:
We see the world divided up into two vast groups today — the imperialist and fascist
on one side, the socialist and nationalist on the other . . . Inevitably, we take our stand
with the progressive forces of the world which are ranged against fascism and
imperialism.13
It is of great significance that Indian nationalism was not chauvinist or jingoist. It did not take
recourse to reverse racism even when actively opposing racism practised by the British in India.
Opposing and hating British imperialism, it trained its cadre to eschew hatred or bitterness towards
the British people.