Poona, Feb. 11: Prime Minister Nehru today ridiculed the charge levelled against Mr Krishna Menon of allowing the Chinese to occupy Indian territory and said that the Defence ministry and Mr Menon had nothing to do with it.

Mr Nehru who was addressing over one lakh of people at a public meeting here said, “if anyone is to be blamed for it, then it is I who should be blamed as I am in charge of the external affairs ministry. Mr Krishna Menon or the Defence Ministry had nothing to do with this aggression of Indian territory by the Chinese. It was being dealt with by the external affairs ministry.”

The Prime Minister took to task some Congressmen who were helping Acharya Kripalani in the North Bombay Constituency against Mr Menon and said that the better would it be for all concerned. Addressing his last meeting of the day at Poona, Mr Nehru said that, when the Chinese first committed aggression, the Government of India took some time to inquire into it and correspond with the Chinese.

This took some months, “it is wrong to accuse or blame Mr Menon about this, as he had nothing to do with it. It was being inquired into, by the External Affairs Ministry.” Mr Nehru said that a charge was being levelled against the Government that this aggression was hidden from the people of India. This was not correct as the people were told about it, as soon as the matter had been inquired into fully.