I stand before this great Assembly — unique in the annals of human history where representatives of freedom-loving countries of the world are gathered together — to proclaim not only the adherence of my country to the principles and purposes of the United Nations embodied in its Charter, but the determination of our people to help to make it a reality.
We in India have pursued steadfastly, often at great cost, the goal of the freedom of peoples to which this great Organization is dedicated. We have yet to achieve our independence, but we have travelled so far along the road of freedom that today, for the first time, India’s delegation to an international assembly is briefed and accredited by a National Government, and speaks with a full sense of responsibility and authority vested in that Government by the confidence and sanction of our people.
The head of our National Government and our Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jawaharlal Nehru, has proclaimed our stand in relation to the United Nations in these words:
“Towards the United Nations Organization, India’s attitude is wholehearted cooperation and unreserved adherence, in both spirit and letter, to the Charter governing it; to that end India will participate fully in its varied activities and endeavour, and assume that role in its councils to which her geographical position, population and contribution towards peaceful progress entitle her — in particular, the Indian delegation will make it clear that India stands for the independence of all colonial and dependent peoples and their full right to self-determination.”
India does not yet play a sufficiently effective part in this Assembly. She desires and intends to do so. As a major country, geographically in a strategic position in the Indian Ocean, with significant relations and cultural ties with her neighbours in Asia, the contribution she has made in resistance to aggression and the cause of human freedom and her role in world economy entitle her to a place in the important organs of the United Nations — I would mention especially the Security and Trusteeship Councils — and an adequate share in the administration of the Organization. We are confident that this Assembly will readily recognize and respond adequately to these desires.
Hitherto, as a dependent country, our relations with the rest of the world were perforce not of our choice or making. Today the Government of India has announced, in the following words, the outlines of an independent foreign policy:
“We believe that peace and freedom are indivisible and the denial of freedom anywhere must lead to conflict and war. We repudiate utterly the nazi doctrine of racialism wheresoever and in whatever form it may be practised. We seek no dominion over others — we claim no privileged position over other peoples, but we do claim equal and honourable treatment for our people wherever they may go and we cannot accept any discrimination against them.”
We have for this reason, and as a demonstration that we look to the United Nations to implement in practice the principles and basis of civilized life which has been embodied in the Charter, brought before this Assembly the treatment of Indians in the Union of South Africa, a Member State and a signatory to the Charter.
The issue is one where we have appealed to public opinion and to this tribunal, the United Nations. We could do no better, and we could do no less. The way this Assembly treats and disposes of this issue is open to the gaze, no only of those gathered here, but to millions in the world, the progressive peoples of all countries — more particularly the non-European peoples of the world — who, let it not be forgotten, are an overwhelming section of the human race.
The issue we have brought before you is by no means a narrow or local one, nor can we accept any contention that a gross and continuing outrage of this kind against the fundamental principles of the Charter can be claimed by anyone, and least of all by a Member State, to be a matter of no concern to this Assembly of the world’s peoples.
The bitter memories of racial doctrines in the practice of States and Governments are still fresh in the minds of all of us. Their evil and tragic consequences are part of the problems with which we are called upon to deal.
India firmly believes that imperialism, political, economic or social, in whatever part of the world it may exist and by whomsoever it may be established and perpetuated, is totally inconsistent with the objects and purposes of the United Nations and of its Charter. The sufferings, the frustration, the violation of human dignity and the challenge to world peace, freedom and security that empire represents must be one of the prime concerns of this parliament of the world’s peoples. Millions look to us to resist and end imperialism in all its forms, even as they rely upon us to crush the last vestiges of fascism and nazism.
India holds that the independence of all colonial peoples is the vital concern of freedom-loving peoples everywhere. She looks with confidence to the United Nations to give to the exploited millions of the world faith and hope and the promise that their liberations is at hand.
India is concerned about the use of armed power of Member States for purposes other than preventing aggression on behalf of the United Nations.
The use of troops against the national aspirations of peoples for the protection of imperial vested interests and virtually as armies of occupation threatening both weaker peoples and world peace as a whole, calls for unreserved condemnation by the United Nations, and for the demand that all such troops shall be withdrawn.
This Assembly is no doubt aware of the strength and unity of feeling in India on the use of Indian troops in Indonesia and elsewhere. Surely, with the Great War ended in victory for freedom, it is time to end these lesser wars waged for empire.
Another question on which India will place its considered views before this Assembly is the much discussed question of what is called the veto. No one will lay at India’s door the charge that she is oblivious to or unconcerned about the rights of weaker and smaller nations. No one can say of her that she would willingly accept the dictation of stronger Powers just because they are strong — but we are here as a country, first and foremost, to help the United Nations to establish itself in strength so that it may implement the purposes which we all have at heart. The unity of the great Powers is imperative for this purpose.
We approach the question of the veto with an earnest anxiety to help maintain and strengthen the machinery of collective organization of peace and security for all. We would protest as strongly as' anyone else, the abuse of the veto power as of any other power. I would myself prefer to look upon the so-called veto in a positive way and as the necessary device for securing that vital decisions by the Great Powers rest on unanimity and not on disregard of the total opposition to any proposal by one of them.
The Secretary-General’s report on the work of the Organization proclaims the enormity of the tasks which face us. We feel bound to express our regret that none of the major political issues examined by the Security Council, with the exception of the Syrian and Lebanese questions, have been satisfactorily or conclusively disposed of. We equally express our regret that not all the mandatory Powers have offered to place territories for which they hold mandates under United Nations’ trusteeship. We are gravely concerned that the Union of South Africa has proposed that the mandated territory of South West Africa should be incorporated with the Union.
I am sure this Assembly will permit me to say a word expressing my own hopes and those of my country about the greater participation of women in the work of the Assembly. Indian women are now taking part in all nation-building activities. We do not recognize caste, creed or sex as a barrier to progress and our women have equality of opportunity with men. Two of our leading women have already taken a worthy part in Committees connected with the United Nations.
Believing as we do that, in building the future, the effort and responsibility must be shared jointly by men and women, we earnestly hope that women of all countries will have the occasion to participate more fully with men in all departments of life, including the work of this Assembly, thus helping to create a better and more balanced world.
We move, in spite of difficulties, toward a closer co-operation and the building of a world commonwealth. Let us do this with more deliberation and speed. The peoples of the world are well aware of our sentiments and look with expectation for their fulfilment. Let us recognize that human emotions and the needs of the world will not wait for an indefinite period. To this end let us direct our energies and, reminding ourselves that in our unity of purpose and action alone lies the hope of the world, let us march on.