Non-alignment and Afro-Asian unity

India's freedom struggle was part of a worldwide fight against colonialism. Indian leaders felt close to other colonised peoples. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose's Indian National Army even linked the freedom struggle to Indians living overseas, in Southeast Asia.

Non-alignment meant India would not join either bloc in the Cold War: it stayed out of NATO (the US-led alliance) and the Warsaw Pact (the Soviet-led one). It made its own decisions on each issue, and it accepted aid from both sides. Non-alignment did not mean staying silent: India took clear stands on issues.

Neighbouring Pakistan, by contrast, joined US-led military alliances.

The balance was not always perfect:

• In 1956, when Britain, France and Israel attacked Egypt over the Suez Canal, India led the world protest.
• In the same year, when the Soviet Union sent troops into Hungary, India did not publicly condemn it.

Critics said India was softer on the Soviet side.

Afro-Asian unity: India worked to bring the newly free nations together.

• It hosted the Asian Relations Conference in March 1947, even before independence.
• In 1949, it called a conference to support Indonesia's fight for freedom from the Dutch.
• It strongly opposed apartheid (racial discrimination) in South Africa.

The Bandung Conference in Indonesia in 1955 brought Asian and African nations together and led to the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Its first summit was held in Belgrade (Yugoslavia) in 1961. Its core leaders were Nehru, Tito of Yugoslavia and Nasser of Egypt.