“History will be kind to me for I intend to write it,” Sir Winston Churchill, famously declared once. The great statesman, posthumously, might feel his sentiments betrayed, as Madhusree Mukerjee, author and scientist, comes up with her book “Churchill's Secret War — The British Empire and the ravaging of India during World War II”.
Released by Mushirul Hasan, eminent historian and Director-General, National Archives of India, at the India International Centre recently, the book attempts to gauge the causes of the 1943 Bengal famine with a different perspective, assaying Churchill's role in its outbreak. “It is a very important book. It underlines a tragic and significant aspect of our history; events which are conveniently forgotten. Very few of us talk of colonialism in today's world of globalisation. So, as long as it revives the memory, it is an outstanding book,” said Hasan about the book.
Differentiating between the writing that has been done on the subject and her effort, the author explained, “Much has been written on the Bengal famine in India and America, but mostly concentrating on local factors. This book however, sets the disaster in its imperial context, showing how the story of the famine was interwoven with the history of Gandhi's ‘Quit India' movement and the attitudes and priorities of Churchill and his war cabinet”.
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The Frankfurt-based writer said that being a scientist, she wanted to examine and understand the causes of the Bengal famine. “I started from scratch and eventually, during the course of my research, came across documents and war journals at the UK ministry which disclosed horrid truths about the famine and directly indicted Churchill for its outbreak and reaching such a magnitude. So, I decided to come up with a book on the issue, so that the truth comes out”, she said.
Madhusree expressed that while Churchill has been widely extolled for his achievements, parts of his record have gone woefully unexamined. “At the same time when Churchill opposed the barbarism of the Nazis, he governed India with a fierce resolve to crush its freedom movement and a profound contempt for native lives. A series of Churchill's decisions between 1940 and 1944 directly and inevitably led to the deaths of some three million Indians”.
Hasan, however, wasn't in agreement with Madhusree's straight convictions of Churchill. “Attributing occurrence of famine to a man sitting at White Hall, just because he is the PM, is stretching a point. I find myself unable to establish a direct correlation between Churchill and famine. It is tricky to make such generalisations that make history invalid. And as for the ravaging of India, ravaging in fact stopped after World War II. There were no resources left with the British. It is exaggerated, and needs to be corrected.”
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