At that time

Wonder what happened a while later! [Link.]

On the topic of Brezhnev, the other day I saw an Ashoka tree planted by Brezhnev in our campus. His visit was in 1961, three years before he became the General Secretary of CPSU. Brezhnev was the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet at that time. Prime Minister Nehru had visited the USSR in September 1961 and this was Brezhnev's reciprocal visit. The plaque reads thus: Planted by / H.E.L.I. Brezhnev / Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of USSR / On 18 December 1961.

I was telling a friend of mine about Brezhnev's tree and I told him that the tree looked rather short for its 40+ years. "That's the planned economy growth. A free market tree would have touched the sky by now!", he said.

Of course something else was happening in India at that time. On the 18th of December 1961, the Indian troops entered Goa, thus ending four hundred years of Portugese rule. Nehru had repeatedly warned about using force in the preceding months. Tension escalated with the buildup of Portugese and Indian military stregths in Goa in November - December, and Portugal had appealed to the UN Security Council. On December 15, the UN Secretary General requested the prime ministers of India and Portugal not to allow the situation to deteriorate. And that was the day Brezhnev's fortnight long India trip began. On the 18th, when the Indian troops moved in, when Brezhnev planted that tree that I can almost see through the window while I type this (!), Portugal called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council. Portugal's friends in the West introduced a resolution calling for Indian withdrawal. The United States strongly criticised India. President Kennedy urged Nehru not to use any force. The Soviets stood by India. In particular, they vetoed the UN resolution.

By the way, my institute has an MoU with the state of Goa for almost five years now. The MoU envisages possibilities for collaborative activities in several areas including the development of facilities for providing e-communiation and internet acess in Konkani and Marathi languages, setting up of mechanisms for the upgradation of quality and level of technical education in Goa, and setting up of distance education and e-learning facility in Goa.

Brezhnev's tree has a lot of stories to tell!

P.S: The Goan crisis description is from A Study of Crisis by Michael Brecher and Jonathan Wilkenfeld.