Consider the following statements and choose the correct option: (I) After the Chinese Revolution in 1949. India was one of the first countries to recognize the communist government. (II) Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first Indian Prime Minister after Nehru to visit China.

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 1:

(I) After the Chinese Revolution in 1949, India was one of the first countries to recognize the communist government. This statement is historically accurate. India, driven by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru's policy of non-alignment and a desire to foster Asian unity, extended official recognition to the newly formed People's Republic of China (PRC) on December 30, 1949. This action came just a few months after Mao Zedong's victory and the establishment of the PRC on October 1, 1949, marking India as one of the very first non-communist nations to acknowledge the new regime. This early recognition set the stage for the initial phase of 'Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai' relations, despite later conflicts.

The incorrect option is 2:

Statement (II) Atal Bihari Vajpayee became the first Indian Prime Minister after Nehru to visit China, is incorrect. Jawaharlal Nehru visited China in 1954. The next Indian Prime Minister to visit China was Rajiv Gandhi, who made a landmark visit in December 1988, marking a significant step toward normalizing bilateral ties following the 1962 Sino-Indian War. While Atal Bihari Vajpayee did visit China, he did so first as External Affairs Minister in 1979 and later as Prime Minister in 2003, but he was not the first Prime Minister after Nehru. Since only statement (I) is correct and statement (II) is incorrect, options 2, 3, and 4 must be ruled out. Option 3 is incorrect because both statements are not correct; Option 4 is incorrect because one statement is correct.