Yes, There Is No Santa

Before dropping in on Afghanistan, Bolsheviks Bulganin and Khrushchev made their farewells to India, concluding one of the teacup-shattering diplomatic expeditions of all time. The Russians got together with their host, Prime Minister Nehru, to compose a joint communique. Khrushchev wanted to throw a few final dishes at the Western powers, but Neutralist Nehru was all for throwing only the soggy tea bags.

Nehru won. In their final statement, phrased in comparatively soft Nehrunian language, Russia and India jointly 1) espoused the Indian leader's "five principles of coexistence," 2) urged the surrender to the Chinese Communists of the island of Formosa, and Peking admission to the U.N., 3) called for prohibition of nuclear weapons (without mention of inspection or other safeguards). In an accompanying agreement, the Russians promised to sell oil-producing and mining equipment and steel to India, and to "increase substantially" its purchases from India.

But Khrushchev was not to be denied one final crockery fling. He called a last-minute "press conference" (no questions allowed) to make up for Nehru's refusal to talk tough, and startled Indian reporters by claiming, in effect, that the Bolsheviks had invented Nehru's "five principles," by serving notice that Russia intends to continue to "produce atomic and hydrogen weapons," and by striking out once again at the "rotten colonial system" that resists India's claims to Goa and Kashmir.

"I am leaving a part of my heart here," cried Nikita Khrushchev. Said Nehru in a cautious goodbye: "Friendship between India and the Soviet Union should not be construed to mean that we are drifting away from any other friendly country."

After the Russians left, Indian officials, headline writers and editorialists tried to piece together their impressions. There were still some mutterings at the way Khrushchev had violated diplomatic niceties and often talked beyond the Indian government to rabble-rouse the crowds against the West. But even the most caustic critics now felt pretty complacent about the whole thing.

Said the Hindustan Standard, which only days before had been insisting that Nehru "correct" some of Khrushchev's assertions: "The visit ended on a quiet note of mutual satisfaction. Fears have been thoroughly dispelled. We have not become fellow travelers." As for some of Khrushchev's crude antics: "The Western powers asked for trouble." And, added the Standard, as for the absence of some of the big Soviet aid grants that many Indians had been hoping for: "No Soviet version of an American Santa Claus appears on the scene, and it is better so."

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