blamed on New Delhi's ad hoc policy in meeting the crisis there seems to be no coherent approach to the problems thrown up by Bangladesh.
Mrs. Gandhi, therefore has her task cut for her. She can hope to make an impression only if she shows decisiveness. What needs to be stressed are the essentials and not the peripheral matters that can cloud the central issue. It would help in improving India's image if New Delhi were to know its own mind. It would serve little purpose to declare that the Indo-Soviet treaty has not changed India's policy of non alignment. The West has drawn its own conclusions and is not likely to alter them on the strength of statements. Indeed, India's posture would tie more credible in the West if Mrs. Gandhi were to say that she has had to go into a treaty relationship with the Russians for compelling domestic reasons to give a psychological boost to the morale of the Indian people at a particularly trying time.
Secondly, legalistic arguments are not likely to help India. The essentials of the Bangladesh crisis are there for all impartial observers to see and it would be useful to stress them. They are that a holocaust has been brought about by the actions of Pakistan's military rulers on India's eastern frontier and a crisis with which India has had nothing to do has spilled over into the country in the shape of millions of refugees.
If the West expects India to do nothing in the circumstances, it is being particularly short-sighted. Unlike the West India cannot avert its gaze from the problem. It is too near home and too intensely felt. If Mrs. Gandhi talks to the Western leaders she meets in such terms she will win their respect if not their concurrence. Let us accept the fact that India and the West do not view Bangladesh from the same standpoint and will not do so.
———————-
