After Nehru, What? Britain, the United States, and the Other Transfer of Power in India, 1960–64

In November 1959, India's Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, turned seventy. Having led his country since Britain's departure from South Asia in August 1947, Nehru's seventieth birthday stimulated debates, both inside and outside the Indian subcontinent, on India's future in a pos...

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Main Author: McGarr, Paul M.
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis (Routledge) 2011
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2309/
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author McGarr, Paul M.
author_facet McGarr, Paul M.
author_sort McGarr, Paul M.
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description In November 1959, India's Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, turned seventy. Having led his country since Britain's departure from South Asia in August 1947, Nehru's seventieth birthday stimulated debates, both inside and outside the Indian subcontinent, on India's future in a post-Nehruvian world. In the early 1960s, with the Indian premier's health deteriorating and Sino-Indian relations under strain, British and US policymakers evidenced increasing concern with whom, or perhaps more pertinently, with what, forces would govern the world's largest democracy after Nehru. This article, which draws upon recently released British and US archival records, provides the first assessment of Western involvement in the struggle to succeed Nehru which occurred within India's ruling Congress Party between 1960 and 1964. Moreover, it offers insights into Anglo-American concern that Nehru's health adversely affected Indian policymaking; the involvement of foreign intelligence services in India's domestic politics; and the misplaced expectations of British and US officials that the appointment of Lal Bahadur Shastri as India's second Prime Minister, in May 1964, would herald the beginning of a new and more productive relationship between India and the West.
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spelling nottingham-23092020-05-04T20:24:00Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2309/ After Nehru, What? Britain, the United States, and the Other Transfer of Power in India, 1960–64 McGarr, Paul M. In November 1959, India's Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, turned seventy. Having led his country since Britain's departure from South Asia in August 1947, Nehru's seventieth birthday stimulated debates, both inside and outside the Indian subcontinent, on India's future in a post-Nehruvian world. In the early 1960s, with the Indian premier's health deteriorating and Sino-Indian relations under strain, British and US policymakers evidenced increasing concern with whom, or perhaps more pertinently, with what, forces would govern the world's largest democracy after Nehru. This article, which draws upon recently released British and US archival records, provides the first assessment of Western involvement in the struggle to succeed Nehru which occurred within India's ruling Congress Party between 1960 and 1964. Moreover, it offers insights into Anglo-American concern that Nehru's health adversely affected Indian policymaking; the involvement of foreign intelligence services in India's domestic politics; and the misplaced expectations of British and US officials that the appointment of Lal Bahadur Shastri as India's second Prime Minister, in May 1964, would herald the beginning of a new and more productive relationship between India and the West. Taylor & Francis (Routledge) 2011 Article PeerReviewed McGarr, Paul M. (2011) After Nehru, What? Britain, the United States, and the Other Transfer of Power in India, 1960–64. International History Review, 33 (1). pp. 115-142. ISSN 0707-5332 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2011.555381 doi:10.1080/07075332.2011.555381 doi:10.1080/07075332.2011.555381
spellingShingle McGarr, Paul M.
After Nehru, What? Britain, the United States, and the Other Transfer of Power in India, 1960–64
title After Nehru, What? Britain, the United States, and the Other Transfer of Power in India, 1960–64
title_full After Nehru, What? Britain, the United States, and the Other Transfer of Power in India, 1960–64
title_fullStr After Nehru, What? Britain, the United States, and the Other Transfer of Power in India, 1960–64
title_full_unstemmed After Nehru, What? Britain, the United States, and the Other Transfer of Power in India, 1960–64
title_short After Nehru, What? Britain, the United States, and the Other Transfer of Power in India, 1960–64
title_sort after nehru, what? britain, the united states, and the other transfer of power in india, 1960–64
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2309/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2309/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/2309/