The Prime Minister’s refusal to place Hungary at par with Suez created an outrage in India. Jayaprakash Narayan wrote (on 5 November 1956), ‘If you [Nehru] do not speak out, you will be held guilty of abetting enslavement of a brave people by a new imperialism more dangerous than the old because it masquerades as revolutionary.’ Krishna Menon made matters worse by stating in the Security Council that events in Hungary were a domestic affair. He went further. On his own, he abstained from voting on a resolution condemning the Soviet Union for the use of force, justifying his action with an
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