A Matter of Understanding

India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wants India to keep "freedom of action"; this is a diplomatic way of saying that he cannot make up his mind where he really stands. He supports U.N. military action against the Red invasion of South Korea; at the same time, he is trying to sell the West a plan for a "peaceful settlement" of the Korean war which calls for appeasing Russia by admitting Red China into the U.N. (TIME, July 31). Last week, Nehru went before the Indian Parliament to ask approval for his Korea policy (which he got) and to explain India's position in the struggle between Communism and the West.

One day, Nehru criticized Indians who "go about criticizing other countries" and rebuked a deputy who suggested that U.S. policy was motivated by "dollar imperialism." Snapped Nehru: "Those young men of the U.S. who are fighting and dying in Korea certainly do not represent 'dollar imperialism' . . ."

The day before, his fists clenched and his Cambridge-smooth voice swollen with emotion, the ambivalent Pandit had spent an hour and ten minutes decrying the sins of the Western powers. Said he: "They continue to make decisions affecting vast areas of Asia without understanding the real needs and mind of the people . . ."

Replied the New York Times, ". . . Whether we do by now understand the Asians or not, we do by now understand Communism." Which was more, apparently, than could be said of Pandit Nehru.

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