Krishna Menon's campaign
With reference to "Krishna Menon's campaign in Bombay" by Charles Lewis (March 11), Menon won this election securing 58.1 per cent of the votes polled. He won again from this constituency in 1962 defeating the formidable former Congress President J.B. Kripalani who contested as an independent candidate. Menon's share of votes rose to 63.1 percent. After Nehru's death and his exit from Congress, he again tried from the same constituency, but lost to the Congress candidate S.G. Barve. A much-maligned and a lonely Menon was then invited by Ajay Mukherjee, who established the Bangla Congress after he left the Congress, to contest the 1969 by-election from West Bengal's Midnapore constituency. He defeated the Congress candidate by a huge margin securing 67.9 percent of the votes polled.
A K Dasgupta,
Hyderabad
* * *
Charles Lewis' account of Menon's campaign portrays a great hero and patriot. Indeed Menon deserves it. It is true he bungled once or twice as defence minister, for he trusted the Chinese leaders who betrayed him. Despite his weaknesses, he held the country's interest utmost in his mind and worked ceaselessly for the nation's cause in UN Assembly meetings. I feel that debunking of Menon by his detractors is unjustifiable because he deserves a definite place in the history of our nation.
T.R.S. Rangan,
Bangalore
* * *
The incisive cover story made me nostalgic about the glorious days of 50 years ago. V.K. Krishna Menon, whose 110th birth anniversary falls this month, is one of the outstanding statesmen of the last century. His is the classic example of how eminent men well known in their period become little known within a short span of time.
His marathon speeches on Kashmir in the UN ensured a Soviet veto but also earned the displeasure of Occidental countries. However, it cannot be denied that but for Krishna Menon, Western attitudes towards Kashmir would have been far worse than they are today. Had not Menon forced Nehru to take military action to liberate Goa in December 1961, the only vestige of colonialism in India, the tiny pocket of India would have remained a blistering sore, possibly providing military bases to hostile countries. Menon also had a penchant for taking digs at the West to demonstrate his love for the Communist countries. As India's representative at the UN Security Council, he repeatedly outmanoeuvred Pakistan. Menon was greatly responsible for Indian foreign policy in the Nehru era. Notwithstanding certain lapses, it is indeed undisputable that Krishna Menon was one of the architects of national policy, and it a pity that he was slighted in his own time and was forgotten so soon.
V. E. Venkataramani,
Chennai
* * *
The reminiscences of Charles Lewis were interesting. Menon was adamant in the UN that Kashmir was part and parcel of Indian Union. It was he who said that the Pakistan's aggression in Kashmir was aggression against India. Those were the days when true patriots took part in the development of the nation and there were no linguistic, cultural or other factors, which decided one's victory in the elections. Now politics has shrunk to regional and linguistic levels with internal rivalry.
R. Murali Kumar,
Srirangam
* * *
The unusual triumph of V.K. Krishna Menon immediately after his marathon performance in the UN was well portrayed. The fact that he was a non-local did not come in his way to his glorious success in the 1957 General Election. The UN hero could muster unusual attendance in election meetings, though he spoke in English and not in Marathi or Hindi. Menon's fame was at its zenith at that time, though it was a different story altogether after five years.
Capt. O.B. Nair,
Poonithura, Kerala
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