Solidarity Day: Indian Army Will Always Be Formidable For PLA

As the nation observed the sixth decade of the National Solidarity Day on October 20 to honour the valour, bravery and sacrifice of Indian soldiers during the Sino-Indian war, the country still continues to be in the throes of war with China. The day, October 20, 1962, saw the launch of a cowardly attack by Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers on India’s northeastern frontiers with China, mostly along the McMahon Line, which led to the death of over 3,000 Indian soldiers.

Sadly, the war-like situation still continues even after six decades due to the intransigent attitude of Chinese leaders, who want to have their own say prevail on border and territorial dispute with India. The Chinese who talked of Hindi Chini Bhai-Bhai (Indians and Chinese are brothers) and whose then Prime Minister Zhou Enlai signed the famous Panchsheel agreement, in 1954, with first Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru tried to pressure Indian leaders to submit to their dictates and hand over the Indian territories of Arunachal Pradesh, then North Eastern Frontier Agency (NEFA), and most of Ladakh including the icy desert of Aksai Chin area to them. To the Chinese, Panchsheel or the five principles of peaceful co-existence meant kowtowing to their whims and fancies, in order to live peacefully with them.

The one-month war, which continued till November 21, 1962, shook the conscience of the nation.  Afterwards, a deceived India saw the rise of a nation whose feelings were deeply hurt, teaching the first big lesson to them in 1967, when the Chinese soldiers were beaten back. The conflict took place on the heights of Cho La and Nathu La near Sikkim borders. This battle saw the deep humiliation of China, which changed the Sino-Indian political dynamics forever, restoring India’s self-respect. The Chinese soldiers had to retreat from Nathu La after being defeated by Indian soldiers.

The Nathu La and Cho La conflicts were not mere clashes, as sometimes described by military historians, it can truly be called mini-Second India-China war, in which the Chinese were trying to test the nerves of Indian soldiers once again, and if they had proved victorious again, their morale would have once again raised to expand the conflict to wider frontiers of Ladakh. It can well be described as a full-fledged limited war, which the Chinese could not dare to expand along the rest of the borders, as they saw the returning body-bags of their 340 soldiers and over 450 wounded, whereas the Indian Army lost 88 and 163 of its soldiers were wounded. These were no small casualties and could only have resulted from a full-throttled effort by the PLA to push the Indian Army to war, which in a sense saw the humiliation of Chinese army and the nation as a whole.

Obviously, the morale of the Indian Army soldiers was at sky high in 1967. Since then, it is often said, the Chinese have not dared to fire even a single shot at Indian soldiers, though there often were brawls and a stone age like clashes in Galwan valley of Eastern Ladakh on June 15, 2020, in which 20 brave Indian soldiers attained martyrdom and there was an unknown number of casualties from the Chinese side, often claimed to be over 40.

The Galwan clashes resulted from over a month-old intrusion by Chinese PLA, from early May 2020 in the Eastern Ladakh area, when Indian soldiers found them positioned several kilometres inside of the Line of Actual Control. The Indian Army tried to negotiate with them but the Chinese soldiers this time were in huge numbers and strength, for which the Indian Army had to challenge them with similar force levels in order to prevent them from unleashing further aggression.

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China, India’s ‘Friend’ That It Never Was

The Chinese who usually talk of 2000 years old friendship with India, and the need for the Chinese dragon and the Indian elephant to dance together, actually were finding an opportunity to lure India to their lap and then backstab the age-old friend. In fact, the Chinese once again proved that there is a huge difference between their words and deeds. They do not practise what they preach. This is also evident from the facts that in spite of two neighbours entering into various confidence-building agreements in 1993, 1996, 2005 and 2013, the PLA dared to violate these and intruded into Indian territory.

This is the unprecedented fourth year of Chinese intrusion into Indian territory, with the Indian and Chinese troops facing eye to eye. Actually, they are sitting on powder keg. In spite of the promises made to Indian foreign and defence ministers during the September 2020 Moscow meeting between the two sides, for early disengagement and de-escalation, over 50,000 troops with most modern armoury continue to be deployed against each other 
Any mistaken move from any side could lead to an open war, which can be devastating not only for them but for the entire world. The Chinese are simply engaged in muscle flexing, as they have realised that the Indian Army of today is not the Indian Army of the sixties.

The PLA was also a ragtag army then but with a sound leadership, and they could have easily been overwhelmed by Indian air power, which sadly the Indian leadership decided not to use.  Today, the two countries are armed with nuclear tipped long range ballistic missiles, modern fighter aircraft, battle tanks and Howitzer Guns and the political leadership of both are aware of the consequences of their mis-adventurous move.

The Chinese PLA undoubtedly is the third most powerful army on the earth today, but the Indian Army firepower can be challenged by the PLA only at the cost of their or mutual annihilation. The Chinese PLA cannot subdue Indian forces with their far superior nuclear arsenal. The Solidarity Day observed by India on October 20 is a terse reminder to the Chinese of their inability to repeat 1962 once again. The Chinese PLA interlocutors have adopted dilly-dallying attitude during the 20 rounds of Corps Commander level military talks held till now, so that the Indian Army surrender before them fearing the very challenging fourth annual winter deployment on the icy hills of Eastern Ladakh. But Indian forces are determined to counter any challenge posed by them. The Solidarity Day reinforced Indian willpower to thwart any threat red flagged by Chinese PLA.

(The writer is a senior journalist and strategic affairs analyst and author of ‘Bharat-China Rishte: Dragon ne haathi ko kyon dasa)

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