Secondly, the political situation. What has happened in the last 25 years ? We have seen that the classical, colonial powers have lost their power: I think the process started with India and proceeded further and we see today that most of the continents are completely free, except some pockets in South Africa, some pockets in the South Pacific, some islands in the Indian Ocean. But his liberation process has started. We have seen the last empire of Portugal dismantled and we see that it has created some new problems which we are facing and which we will have to face.
So in the political field, we have seen this dismantling of colonial empires as a result of the liberation struggles which started it. I would like to tell my hon’ble friend, Prof. Mukerjee, that I entirely agree with him, when we speak of national struggles. A national struggle without its economic, progressive and political content cannot today be called a national struggle. When we use the words ‘national struggle’, we use it as a composite term in which all these elements are present. The peak of this national struggle, as we saw, was in Indo-China. For more than two decades, the people there fought heroically with faith in their national independence, faith in their people’s progress, faith in socialism. And it was because of these things that they could succeed against a very big power. So this is the political picture which has emerged in these 25 years and because of this, we see a large number countries members of the UN etc.
The third aspect, which I think we should not forget, is the impact of technological development. I am not talking merely of technological development in industrial terms; I am talking in terms of the military-industrial complex in the western world or the technological development that has created an impact on the weapons system of the world. At the end of the second world war, we saw that the USA could say that they were the supreme power, the super power. They thought possibly they could dictate terms. But the other world also was not sleeping. They were also making efforts for their own technological progress. So a time is reached, when they know that they are not alone, and they are not the only people to make progress. USSR has made progress in this matter. They have proved that as far as the weapon system is concerned, they are also equally powerful. When they knew that there was a limitation of their power, the process of detente started. These are the technological imperatives, the political imperatives of detente. If there is relaxation of tension, it is not only detente among the two big powers.
There should be relaxation of tensions amongst all the countries of all the continents. But there are the imperatives behind it. They just cannot afford not to have it. This is the basic factor and let us not forget it. This is the basic factor and let us not forget it. This is the background of detente. This is the situation that has developed and this is the world that we live in today. Therefore, we will have to see how we place our relationships, what are our present day challenges and what are going to be our responses to them. When you talk about foreign policy, you have to find out your neighbourhood, you have to find out what are the reactions to the policies that the big powers are following in your area, what are the challenges it has thrown to our country and how you are going to respond to it. I think, if I answer these questions, possibly the purpose of my speech should have been served.
