India has not been able to live down the humiliation it suffered at the hands of China in the border skirmishes of October–November 1962. That humiliation effectively finished the unblemished reign of its first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, forced Defence Minister V.K. Krishna Menon out of office and led to several systemic changes. To date, minor transgressions by Chinese troops along the unmarked Line of Actual Control (LOAC) between the two countries are treated almost like invasions – not just by a hyperactive media but even large sections of academics and politicians. One of the major
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