A sacrifice remembered: on India's role in World War I

The centenary of the First World War has provided a welcome opportunity to recognise India’s role

A view of the India Gate in New Delhi, the capital of India. This 42-metre high structure is a memorial to the unknown soldier. Designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, it is a memorial arch in honour of the 70,000 Indian soldiers who died in the First World War. Their names are engraved on it.

This Remembrance Sunday I will be in New Delhi to mark the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. While many Indians, both here and in the U.K., are celebrating Diwali, some will also be remembering. At first sight, the sombre ceremony of Remembrance and the joyous festival of Diwali might seem utterly unalike. Yet both represent the virtue of doing your duty, and the triumph of good over evil.

The contribution that Indians of all faiths made to the victory of good over evil in the First World War is little known, but it was crucial. Rushed to the Western Front, Indian soldiers fought tenaciously to stop a German breakthrough. Darwan Singh Negi won one of the first Victoria Crosses, fighting to retake British trenches from the enemy although he had been seriously wounded in the head and the arm. Without men like him, the war might quickly have been lost. In all, over one million Indians served overseas during the First World War. Over 74,000 never returned, a fact that makes India’s choice of the marigold to symbolise remembrance an apt one, given the secular association of saffron with sacrifice.

“Remember the blood of thy martyred sons,” Sarojini Naidu demanded in her famous poem,

The Gift of India . Until recently, however, the acknowledgement and remembrance of India’s sacrifice in the war was an extremely delicate subject because it was so entangled with painful memories of Empire. Official silence on both sides meant that India’s immense contribution went unrecognised.

The centenary of the war has provided a welcome opportunity to recognise India’s role. The United Services Institution, backed by the Ministry of External Affairs, has taken the initiative, launching a commemoration project. Crucially, this has unearthed contemporary accounts by Indian soldiers, which will change how future histories of India’s war are written. These accounts confirm what might seem a surprising fact. The Indians who volunteered, just like their British counterparts, believed profoundly that the cause they fought for was just.

New threats to freedom and the world order confront us today, especially in the increasingly important Indo-Pacific region. In the U.K., the Foreign Affairs Committee, which I chair, is already looking into the way we should renew our relationship with India: remembering our shared past but focussing on our future. I hope the honest conversation sparked by this project, and our joint commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the armistice this weekend, will open a new era. I hope it will enable us to talk openly about our history, good and bad, remind us of our shared values, and signal our willingness as great democracies to stand shoulder to shoulder to defend them, should we be forced to, once again.

The writer is a Member of Parliament in the U.K.