While visiting Austria, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke yet again about the prevalence of despondency, despair and hopelessness in India till 2014 and how the situation changed for better only after he and his party, BJP, got the mandate that year to rule the country. He should have been mindful of the fact that this despondent nation commanded the respect and admiration of top Austrian leaders when it was led by Jawaharlal Nehru. They reached out to him in the early 1950s for help restoring Austria’s sovereignty and freeing it from the occupation forces of the Soviet Union, Britain, France and the US following the defeat of Germany in World War II. Germany had annexed Austria in 1938 under the ‘Anschluss’.
Nehru as a world statesman with his foreign policy anchored in nonalignment fascinated Austria’s leaders. Therefore, they approached him in 1953 to intercede on their behalf and convince the Soviet Union that Austria was ready to pledge its neutrality through a provision in its Constitution. This paving the way for the Allied occupation forces to leave Austria on signing a treaty so as to enable it to secure its freedom and independence. Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer – in the presence of Modi – recalled the crucial role played by Nehru for the freedom of his country and said,
“There was standstill in 1953, the situation was difficult, it was difficult to make progress with the Soviet Union. It was Foreign Minister Gruber (of Austria) who contacted Prime Minister Nehru, asking for support in the negotiations to bring them to a positive conclusion. This is what happened. India helped Austria and in 1955 the negotiations came to a positive conclusion with the Austrian State Treaty.”
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With Modi waxing eloquent about the basket case India was before his own arrival on the scene, it was left to Chancellor Nehammer to remind everyone of the role played by Nehru and India regaining Austria’s independence.
Bruno Kreisky, who served as Austria’s Chancellor from 1970-83 glowingly recalled Nehru in 1989 in these words:
“When the history of this century is written, and that of the men who have put their stamp on it one of the greatest and finest chapters will be the story of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. It will be a part of India’s most modern history…Very early Nehru had become one of my instructors…”
The stellar role played by Nehru in getting back Austria’s dignity as a free country has always figured during the exchange of visits of dignitaries between the two countries. During his visit to Austria in November 1999, President K.R. Narayanan, recalled in a speech: “A former Austrian Ambassador, presenting his credentials to President Radhakrishnan on November 9, 1966, referred to the role played by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru with regard to the evacuation of the Occupation Forces from Austria and the complete affirmation, thereafter, of Austria’s freedom”.
Narayanan then referred to Kreisky and stated that in a major essay authored by him he “….recorded how, at Foreign Minister Gruber’s instance, Nehru and the Indian statesman Krishna Menon put across to the then Soviet leadership, in a positive light, Austria’s refusal to grant military bases to foreign powers and to conclude military alliances with foreign powers”. “The developments leading to the Austrian State Treaty of 1955,” he added, “are now not just part of the history of Europe but of the spirit of independence and autonomy in international relations.”
It is instructive that during that visit, Narayanan went deep into history and said that in 1927 both Jawaharlal Nehru and Kreisky had attended the International Congress of Oppressed Nationalities Against Colonialism and Imperialism held in Brussels. Narayanan then quoted words of Kreisky that among many of the delegates from colonial countries, such as Senghor and Sukarno who actively participated in the liberation of their home countries from the yoke of colonialism, the great name at the Congress was Nehru.
In this context it is pertinent to state what a renowned Austrian academic, Hans Köchler said about Nehru in his 2021 publication, ‘Austria, Neutrality And Non-Alignment.’
He wrote that when in the 1950s Austrian Foreign Minister Gruber contacted Nehru to take up Austria’s cause with Soviet Union it was wrongly reported in the international media that Austria “had not been successful in convincing the Indian Prime Minister to intervene” or that Nehru had denied that Austria had requested the Prime Minister’s official intervention. While stating that in 1953 such reports were dismissed as baseless by Austria’s Council of Ministers, Köchler referred to an op- ed published on June 25, 1953, in the newspaper Neues Österreich. It spoke of Nehru as the “most eminent” representative of the powers that are committed to East-West understanding, and whose “willingness to act as advocate of our neglected rights (…) constitutes a fact of global political importance.”
Kochler also quoted Gruber who stated, “The consent of such an important country – whose neutrality in the East-West Conflict is beyond any doubt – was destined to be especially beneficial to Austria’s cause”.
It is rather sad that Prime Minister Modi – who was visiting Austria on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of commencement of diplomatic relations between the two countries – himself chose not to refer to the vital historical relations between the two countries and the momentous role played by Nehru. It was thus left to the Austrian leaders to do so in the presence of Modi.
Even today, people of Austria value India’s non-aligned foreign policy as a major factor for charting the course of their country for independence and they are deeply mindful that by enshrining in their Constitution that Austria would remain neutral it could regain its freedom after World War II. It is in this context that the importance of Nehru as statesman of global stature has been flagged by Austria in the very first decade of India attaining independence. Indians regardless of political persuasion must uphold the invaluable legacy of Nehru, even if it is persistently neglected and negated by the Modi regime.
S.N. Sahu served as officer on special duty to former President K.R. Narayanan.
This piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.
