Ahead of 1971 war, Nixon branded his envoy to India as traitor

Washington: Reluctant to hear anything against then Pakistan president Gen Yahya Khan and his army ahead of the 1971 war, the then US President Richard Nixon branded his own envoy to India as a "traitor" and an "Indian mouthpiece", says a new book based on declassified documents.

In fact, Nixon wanted to fire Kenneth B Keating, the then US ambassador to India, because he refused to toe his line and instead had the courage and strength to speak the truth to the President that his closest ally Pakistan was indulging in a genocide, says the book 'The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide'.

The book is authored by Gary Bass, who is a professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University.

"Nixon said, 'Keating's a traitor' and told (the then secretary of state) Henry Kissinger that they should fire the ambassador. The Indians, Nixon said, were 'Awful but they are getting some assistance from Keating, of course.'

"Kissinger agreed: 'A lot of assistance; he is practically their mouthpiece'," says the book.

"He (Nixon) added, 'He has gone native. As I told you, I saw the Indians and listened to their complaints and Keating kept interrupting and saying but you forgot to mention this or that'. (This was false: in the meetings in Delhi, Keating only spoke once, to break an awkward silence in the conversation with Indira Gandhi)," the book said.

"Nixon said, 'I think we ought to get moving on him; he is 71 years old'. 'Yes', replied Kissinger, 'but he would do us a lot of damage now' - the inevitable congressional outrage if their old colleague was pushed out. 'We should wait until things quiet down'. Nixon said, 'Two or 3 months and then I think we ought to do it'," according to the book.

In another meeting at the Oval Office, Nixon wondered why every Ambassador who goes to India falls in love with it.

"Highlighting US donations for the refugees, he for once mentioned 'human suffering', and said that they must 'go all out - all out - on the relief side'. But then he said, 'Now let me be very blunt', and ripped into Kenneth Keating: 'Every Ambassador who goes to India falls in love with India'," the book quotes Nixon as saying.

According to the author, this direct presidential attack was so far out of bounds that Kissinger and Saunders censored it out of their official record of the conversation for the State Department.

"Nixon told the senior state department officials that they 'have to cool off the pro-Indians in the state department and out in South Asia'. He added that fewer Americans swooned for Pakistan, 'because the Pakistanis are a different breed. The Pakistanis are straightforward - and sometimes extremely stupid. The Indians are more devious, sometimes so smart that we fall for their line'," the book said.