Afro-Asian unity and the Non-Aligned Movement

Detail

Roots of India's Afro-Asian policy

• Part of a worldwide struggle: India's national movement was one part of the worldwide fight against colonialism. Colonialism means one country ruling another and using its land, people and wealth.
• Inspiring others: India's freedom struggle inspired liberation movements in Asia and Africa. These were movements by colonised people to win their own freedom.
• Early links: Indian nationalist leaders were in touch with nationalist leaders in other colonies well before 1947.
• Nehru's vision:
• Nehru wanted India to play a big role in world affairs.
• He gave special weight to Asian affairs.
• He saw India's size, location and freedom struggle as reasons for India to lead in Asia.

Asian Relations Conference (New Delhi, March 1947)

• What it was: The Asian Relations Conference was a meeting of Asian peoples and leaders that Nehru called in New Delhi to build Asian unity. Asian unity means Asian nations working together on shared problems.
• When it met: March 1947, five months before India became independent.
• Who hosted it: Nehru hosted it as head of the Interim Government. Delegations from 28 countries, including Tibet, attended [6].
• Why it matters: India began acting as a voice for Asia even before it was formally free.

Support for Indonesia (1949)

• In 1949 India hosted another conference in New Delhi.
• Its aim was to support Indonesia's freedom from Dutch colonial rule.
• This shows India actively backing the freedom of fellow Asian colonies, not just speaking in their favour.

Decolonisation and the fight against apartheid

• Decolonisation: colonies becoming free, independent states. India firmly supported it everywhere.
• Apartheid: South Africa's system of racial separation and discrimination. Under it, the white minority ruled and non-white people were kept apart and denied equal rights. India strongly opposed it.
• India takes the issue to the UN (1946):
• On 22 June 1946, India asked the UN General Assembly to discuss how South Africa treated people of Indian origin [4].
• South Africa objected. It said this was a purely internal matter under Article 2 of the UN Charter, which bars the UN from interfering in a country's domestic affairs [4].

• The Assembly kept the item on its agenda anyway. In Resolution 44 (I), its first resolution on the subject, it said the treatment of Indians in South Africa must follow the UN Charter [4].

• India was the first country to raise this issue at the UN (1946). It also played a leading role in setting up the General Assembly's Sub-Committee against Apartheid [5].

Bandung Conference (Indonesia, April 1955)

• What it was: The Bandung Conference was the first big meeting of newly independent Asian and African states. It was held in Bandung, Indonesia.
• NCERT's view: NCERT calls it the high point (zenith) of India's engagement with the newly free nations of Asia and Africa.
• Dates and organisers: It met from 18 to 24 April 1955. It was organised by Indonesia, Burma (Myanmar), Ceylon (Sri Lanka), India and Pakistan [2].
• Size: 29 countries sent delegates. Together they had more than half of the world's population [2].
• The ten Bandung principles:
• The conference adopted a 10-point "declaration on the promotion of world peace and cooperation" [2].
• It drew on the UN Charter and on Nehru's Five Principles (Panchsheel) [2].

• Panchsheel means five principles for peaceful relations between states: mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful co-existence.

• Stand on colonialism: The conference condemned "colonialism in all of its manifestations". This was a quiet criticism of the Soviet Union as well as the West [2].

• Result: Bandung led to the Non-Aligned Movement, which had its roots at this conference [2].

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)

• What it is: The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a group of states that chose not to join either Cold War bloc, the US-led bloc or the Soviet-led bloc.
• Non-alignment is not neutrality. A non-aligned state still takes a stand on each issue on its merits. It simply does not sign up permanently to either military bloc.
• The 1960 meeting: An NCERT photo shows Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Sukarno and Nkrumah meeting in New York in October 1960.
• First summit, Belgrade (Yugoslavia):
• It met from 1 to 6 September 1961 [3].
• Tito hosted it. It was convened by Nehru (India), Nasser (Egypt) and Tito (Yugoslavia) [7].

• It denounced colonialism and demanded an end to armed action against dependent peoples. It also backed Algeria's war of independence from France [7].

• Founding members: NAM began with 25 members [8].

• From Asia: Afghanistan, Burma, Cambodia, Ceylon, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Nepal, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
• From Africa: Algeria, Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Morocco, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia and the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria).

• From elsewhere: Cuba, Cyprus and Yugoslavia [8].

• Founding leaders: Nkrumah (Ghana), Sukarno (Indonesia), Nasser (United Arab Republic/Egypt), Tito (Yugoslavia) and Nehru (India) [8]. Nehru was a co-founder.

Event	Place and date	Role
Asian Relations Conference	New Delhi, March 1947	Built Asian unity before Indian independence
Conference on Indonesia	New Delhi, 1949	Backed Indonesia's freedom from the Dutch
Bandung Conference	Bandung, 18–24 April 1955	29 Afro-Asian states; led to NAM
1st NAM Summit	Belgrade, 1–6 September 1961	Founded NAM; 25 members
7th NAM Summit	New Delhi, 7–11 March 1983	India hosted

India and NAM later

• India hosted the 7th NAM Summit in New Delhi, 7–11 March 1983 [3].
• Later debates:
• After the Cold War ended in 1991, people asked whether NAM was still relevant.
• India's later ideas of strategic autonomy grew out of NAM. Strategic autonomy means keeping the freedom to make its own foreign-policy choices.
• So did multi-alignment, which means working closely with many powers at once rather than with one bloc.

Exam trap

• Bandung (1955) led to NAM. Belgrade (1961) founded it. NCERT's exercise question says Bandung "led to the establishment of NAM". It does not say Bandung founded NAM.

Prelims Hooks

• Asian Relations Conference: New Delhi, March 1947, five months before independence. It had 28 delegations, including Tibet [6].
• Bandung Conference: 18–24 April 1955. It had 29 countries and five sponsors: Indonesia, Burma, Ceylon, India and Pakistan. Its 10 principles built on Panchsheel and the UN Charter [2].
• Trap: Bandung led to NAM. The Belgrade summit (September 1961) founded it.
• NAM began with 25 members. Its founding leaders were Nehru, Tito, Nasser, Sukarno and Nkrumah [8].
• Belgrade 1961 was hosted by Tito and convened by Nehru, Nasser and Tito [7]. Sukarno and Nkrumah were co-founders but not conveners.
• 7th NAM Summit: New Delhi, March 1983 [3].
• India was the first country to raise racial discrimination in South Africa at the UN (1946). This led to UNGA Resolution 44 (I) [4][5].
• 1949 New Delhi conference was about Indonesia's freedom from the Dutch, not the British.
• Pakistan was one of the five sponsors of the Bandung Conference [2].

Mains Points

• Freedom struggle shaped foreign policy (GS-I/II):
• India's anti-colonial past turned into active diplomacy after 1947.
• Examples include the Asian Relations Conference (1947), the Indonesia conference (1949), raising apartheid at the UN (1946) and Bandung (1955).

• This gave a young, poor state influence far beyond its military or economic weight.

• Non-alignment as a choice, not a retreat:

• NAM let new states keep their freedom of choice in a world split into two Cold War blocs.
• Critics say it was a lack of principle, and that India later leaned towards the USSR (1971 Treaty).

• Supporters say it kept India's decisions in India's hands and won it aid from both blocs.

• Limits of Afro-Asian unity:

• Bandung's spirit of unity did not stop conflicts inside Asia, such as the 1962 India-China war and the India-Pakistan wars.

• This showed that shared anti-colonial feeling could not replace hard security planning.

• Relevance after the Cold War:

• NAM's core idea, freedom of choice, lives on in India's "strategic autonomy" and "multi-alignment".
• The forum itself has lost much of its weight now that there are no longer two blocs.