Speech by Hon’ble Minister for Tourism and Culture Srimati Ambika Soni on the occasion of the release of the publication “India and the 1956 Hungarian Revolution : Materials from the Archives of the Ministry of External Affairs”

24 October 06, Budapest

Your Excellency Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz, Dr. Arpad Goncz, Mrs. Goncz, distinguished guests, dear friends :

It is an honour and a privilege for me to have represented India at the commemorative events of the great 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Your struggle for freedom resonated throughout the world not least in India. Our tryst with destiny, to recall Pt. Nehru’s immortal phrase, was, in 1956 only nine years old. We were a youthful and exuberant democracy full of idealism and enthusiasm, which had gained liberty after an arduous and non-violent struggle, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru. As a country that had overthrown the colonial yoke, there was nothing that the people of India cherished, more than their independence. India and the people of India could not but support, from the very depths of their hearts, the anguished cry of the Hungarian people for freedom. Then again Hungary is a special country with whom our ties of friendship went back several centuries. The great scholars and intellectuals such as Alexander Csoma Korosi, Aurel Stein, Ervin Baktay, Gyula Germanus, had spent long years in India studying, researching and presenting the great message of Indian civilisation to the West. Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore had established a warm relationship with this great country and had invited several scholars and artistes to Santiniketan. Ervin Baktay, Amrita Shergil, Charles Fabri were personal friends of Prime Minister Nehru. Fori Nehru, who was married to Pt. Nehru’s cousin, Mr. BK Nehru, was a Hungarian. Hungary was therefore very close to the hearts and minds of our leaders and they also had an opportunity to learn about the situation in Hungary at that time directly from Hungarian people.

We therefore greatly empathised with your struggle and were deeply saddened by the travails and turmoil that the people of Hungary faced at that time. The Indian National Congress, the great political organization to which I am proud to belong, had adopted a resolution in November 1956 which said, and I quote

“In some countries of Central Europe, important changes have recently taken place towards democratisation and the AICC [All India Congress Committee] welcomes them and trusts that these changes will be brought about peacefully. In Hungary, however, a situation has arisen involving great suffering for the people, which has caused the AICC much distress. The Committee hopes that the foreign troops in Hungary will be withdrawn and the people of Hungary decide their own future by peaceful methods.

Recent events have demonstrated that methods of compulsion and armed intervention by one country on another can no longer be tolerated and can only result, if persisted in, in world war. They have also shown that the armed forces of one country should not be used in another country and foreign bases also should not be established. Both these are forms of intervention which are not only undesirable but are constant irritants leading to conflict. They are opposed to the principles of Panchsheel”.

In the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, Prime Minister Nehru said on November 16, 1956, and I quote

“We are concerned with an attack on freedom anywhere in the world. We are concerned also with strong nations dominating, by armed force, weaker countries. In regard to Hungary, the situation was obscure for some days, and it was only gradually that the story of the tragic events which have taken place there became known. From the very beginning we made it clear that, in our opinion, the people of Hungary should be allowed to determine their future according to their own wishes and that foreign forces should be withdrawn. That has been and is our basic view in regard to Hungary”.

We hope that the book that has been released today would provide an opportunity for Hungarians particularly the youth of the country, to obtain a glimpse of the role played by India in 1956. You will find some interesting information on the ‘behind-the-scenes’ diplomacy when India intervened on behalf of ordinary Hungarians, both with the Hungarian regime and the Soviet Union. You would also get a flavour of India’s approach to the 1956 revolution in the context of the discussions within the UN.

President Arpad Goncz , who was himself deeply involved in the 1956 Revolution, was a close friend of some of the diplomats mentioned in this publication. They include our then Cd’A in Budapest Mr. MA Rahman and our Ministers in Moscow Mr. KPS Menon and in Prague Mr. J.N. Khosla. It is only fitting that his daughter Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz is present with us today for the release of this publication. I am glad to learn that during her visit to India she has made a special effort to meet Mr. Rahman, who is now in his 90s.

The flame of liberty that was lit in 1956 may have dimmed temporarily but it was never extinguished. Today Hungary is a vibrant democracy. The message of 1956 is that the struggle for freedom and democracy is always victorious. Our two countries are now cooperating in various ways including under the aegis of the Budapest based International Centre for Democratic Transition [ICDT] to share our lessons and experiences that may have relevance for other countries in transition. I am confident that this publication will stand testimony to the enduring nature of Indo-Hungarian friendship based on shared values of democracy and human freedom.

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