Ho Chi Minh: A Nationalist Revolutionary
By administrator / March 1,
2019
Niharika Saikia
In the world of numerous idiosyncrasies, there
have been some additional individuals of
exquisite smartness and leadership
characteristics originating from revolutionary
vehemence and progressive enthusiasm. One such
great pioneer and a passionate nationalist was
Vietnam's President Ho Chi Minh who cultivated
the appearance of a humble and benign
individual, popularly known as "Uncle Ho". He
had an emblematic brilliance of a comet as an
activist in national liberation and
international communist movement. Ho Chi Minh
encouraged his people to first combat with the
Japanese, then the French colonial power, and
last but not the least the US-backed South
Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh and his critical people oriented
policies and strategies resulted in Vietnam's
independence. Under his guidance and leadership,
the people of Vietnam not only liberated their
own country from the yolk of colonialism, but
also wiped out the age-old feudal structure and
thus liberated the people. This is unmatched in
history.
Even today the countries take inspiration from
his anti-imperial and anti-hegemonic thought
when it comes to freedom of navigation and
regional conflict, particularly in case of South
China Sea. One needs to closely monitor his
ideas in order to understand his role in
strengthening the ties. Ho Chi Minh's vision
dealt with fundamental, comprehensive and
profound aspects of the Vietnamese revolution
including seeking ways to save the country and
liberate the people; establishing or creating a
social model associated with modern
institutions; finding the way of development of
the revolution; handling international relations
and issues and developing the personality and
dignity of Vietnamese so that they can cope with
regional and global integration.
He admired the determination of predecessors to
gain national independence, but he did not agree
with their directions of national salvation. By
understanding exactly the characteristics and
trends of his times, Ho Chi Minh found a
development path for the nation suiting the law
of development of history- national independence
and socialism. After understanding the
characteristics of the new era, Ho Chi Minh
worked actively to integrate the Vietnamese
revolution with the world. He did not only serve
socio-political purposes of the times - national
independence and social progress - but also work
for the rapid development of the world's
productive- forces. It was the appealing
leadership of Ho Chi Minh that had its enchanted
inspiration over the people of Vietnam, who were
ready for any sacrifice with this optimism and
confidence that after emancipation everybody
would be able to share the fruits of liberation.
The fact remains that after freedom the desires
of the Vietnamese people were never
contradicted.
In his mind, international cooperation was meant
to eradicate poverty and backwardness and catch
up with the world, and after all, he would link
his country's development strategies to
important changes of the times. In the midst of
20th century statesmen, Ho Chi Minh was notable
for his success in mixing communism with
nationalism. All these were similar to the ideas
and ideals of our Indian freedom fighters,
taking into account socialist model of
development, regional integration, autonomous
foreign policy and independent path of
development.
It was not just Minh as a person, but his ideals
were also responsible for the robust ties
between India and Vietnam. His ideals were in
concurrence with that of Indian civilization as
well as those imbibed during the Indian freedom
movement. The anti-imperialism ideology was one
of the most binding features of the relations
between two countries.
President Ho has been a significant link in
strengthening India-Vietnam ties. His
exceptionally friendly and cordial relations
withNehru laid the foundation of India-Vietnam
relations. The traditionally close association
with Vietnam has its historical roots in the
common struggle for liberation from foreign rule
and the national struggle for independence. Both
the leaders in a joint statement had reaffirmed
their faith in 'Panchsheel', the five principles
of peaceful co-existence and said that the
applications of these principles in
international relations would help, to relax
international strains and provide basis for
peace and understanding among nations.
Ho Chi Minh was the focus of attention among the
intellectuals and political activists throughout
the latter half of the last century. During this
time, he was greatly revered in West Bengal with
a lot of commentaries written is his support in
Bangla. His major works and his 'Prison Diary'
were translated into many Indian languages and
were highly appreciated by the readers.
Therefore, Minh's role in bolstering the
relations between the two countries remains
decisive as both the nations shared commonality
of ideology and shared vision for the world and
international institutions. There would barely
be any individual, who would be uninformed of
Vietnam's legendary Ho Chi Minh, who emancipated
his nation from the yolk of then superpowers
like France, Japan and the US. They were made to
face not only defeat at the hands of the
Vietnamese people but were in awe of their
exemplary courage and military strategy.
(Niharika Saikia is a researcher at Centre for
Vietnam Studies, New Delhi. Email:
[email protected])