Congress Rajya Sabha MP and former minister Jairam Ramesh says former defence minister V.K. Krishna Menon, who was in office when India lost the 1962 war with China, was unsuited to be defence minister and Jawaharlal Nehru made a mistake appointing him. Menon demoralised and divided the army, Ramesh said to Karan Thapar in an interview for The Wire to mark the launch of his biography of Krishna Menon.He often gave Nehru poor and misleading advice and was a bad defence minister, says Ramesh. “He was insecure and craved for reassurance of his worth and value.”Consequently, he frequently offered or threatened to resign and though close to Nehru also drained the former PMs patience and tolerance.
