New Delhi: BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Monday reignited a historical debate by sharing a declassified 1963 telegram from the U.S. State Department, accusing former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her father, Jawaharlal Nehru, of making decisions that would have led to the concession of Indian territory to Pakistan, including parts of Poonch, Uri, and the Kishanganga Valley in Gurez.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Dubey wrote:
“After Pakistan’s illegal occupation of Kashmir in 1948, under pressure from the US and UK, between 1962-64, meetings were held between Indian minister Swaran Singh and Pakistan’s Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. This paper reveals India had already agreed to give back territory forcibly occupied by Pakistan in Poonch and Uri… even the Neelam and Kishanganga valleys were proposed as the international border.”
📜 The Declassified Telegram
The February 9, 1963 document, sent from Karachi to the U.S. Secretary of State, details a phase of Cold War diplomacy. It records the Swaran Singh–Bhutto talks, where India reportedly considered territorial compromises in Kashmir under US–UK mediation, although the process ultimately failed due to Pakistan’s insistence on a full-state plebiscite and India’s resistance to such terms.
The telegram also shows the U.S. apprehensions over India deviating from the proposed plebiscite framework and the risk of escalation in the region if no settlement was reached.
🔁 Rann of Kutch: Dubey Revives 1968 Arbitration Claims
Dubey also took aim at Congress’s 1968 agreement on the Rann of Kutch, where India accepted international arbitration and eventually ceded 828 sq km to Pakistan. He claimed that despite India’s upper hand in the 1965 Indo-Pak war, Indira Gandhi succumbed to global pressure.
“Indira Gandhi, the so-called Iron Lady, agreed to arbitration and lost land to Pakistan out of fear,” Dubey alleged.
India’s representative in the UN-backed tribunal was Ales Bebler of Yugoslavia, and the outcome favored Pakistan partially—an act which Dubey termed a “strategic surrender”, reflecting poorly on the Congress party’s foreign policy legacy.
🔥 Political Firestorm
Dubey’s revelations add fresh fuel to the Congress-BJP sparring ahead of key elections. The BJP has frequently accused the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty of making poor strategic decisions on Kashmir and national security, while Congress defends its leaders’ statesmanship during turbulent geopolitical times.
The Congress party is yet to issue an official response to Dubey’s latest allegations.