Nehru's misjudgement of China led to India's 1962 war defeat: Natwar Singh

Former external affairs minister K.Natwar Singh on Tuesday said former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's short sightedness on India's China policy led to the army's defeat at the hands of China in 1962.

"Jawaharlal Nehru genuinely believed that we could have good relations with China. He had invested a great deal in the China policy where he did not have any assumption of a conflict with China. Unfortunately, the way events unfolded, regardless of his goodwill towards China, it didn't go the way that he would have wanted," Natwar Singh said.

Singh also questioned the reason why the Indian Government has not disclosed the report on the loss when countries around the world, including China, have disclosed it long ago.

"We should have released the Henderson Brooks report, which was critical on Jawaharlal Nehru's policy on China. The question is even after 50 years have passed, why didn't we release these materials on 1962 defeat? The Chinese, Americans, the French, the Russians have all released these information. In Neville Maxwell's controversial book "India's China War" has three or four paragraphs which he got in his hand from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which he published, is totally anti-India," Singh added.

A section of the confidential Henderson Brooks report that critically reviewed India's defence preparedness and strategies during the 1962 war with China has been released online by Australian journalist Neville Maxwell.