Winston Churchill wanted India to remain under British rule for reasons rather similar to Hitler wanting "living space" for the Germans in eastern Slavic lands. To that end he promoted divisions between the Hindus and the Muslims. That of course is not an excuse, 70 years later any animosity is entirely our responsibility.
Churchill was not highly regarded by other nations, in his negotiations with Stalin during and after the war he was thought to be consistently outclassed.
His predictions about what would happen if the British left India are amusing:
https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1930-1938-the-wilderness/our-duty-in-india
1) "Gandhi stands for the substitution of Brahmin domination for British rule in India."
That's tough, given that Gandhi was not a Brahmin.
2) "There can be no doubt therefore that the departure of the British from India, which Mr. Gandhi advocates, and which Mr. Nehru demands, would be followed first by a struggle in the North and thereafter by a reconquest of the South by the North, and of the Hindus by the Moslems."
Prescient indeed!
3) "This danger has not escaped the crafty foresight of the Brahmins. It is for that reason that they wish to have the control of a British army, or failing that, a white army of janissaries officered, as Mr. Gandhi has suggested, by Germans or other Europeans. They wish to have an effective foreign army, or foreign-organised army, in order to preserve their dominance over the Moslems and their tyranny over their own untouchables. There, is the open plot of which we are in danger of becoming the dupes, and the luckless millions of Indians the victims."
Stunningly perceptive about the world!
4) "Gandhi stands for the permanent exclusion of British trade from India."
Without Indian ownership, Britain's greatest manufacturing firm JLR would probably be dead by now. Sold for $2 billion in 2008 to Indians, it now has annual profits larger than that sale price.
5) " In assailing the moral duty of Great Britain in India, the Socialist Government and all who aid and abet Mr. Ramsay Macdonald and his Socialist Government, or make their path smooth, will find they have stumbled upon a sleeping giant who, when he arises, will tread with dauntless steps the path of justice and of honour."
Hear, hear... or maybe not
Churchill was not highly regarded by other nations, in his negotiations with Stalin during and after the war he was thought to be consistently outclassed.
His predictions about what would happen if the British left India are amusing:
https://www.winstonchurchill.org/resources/speeches/1930-1938-the-wilderness/our-duty-in-india
1) "Gandhi stands for the substitution of Brahmin domination for British rule in India."
That's tough, given that Gandhi was not a Brahmin.
2) "There can be no doubt therefore that the departure of the British from India, which Mr. Gandhi advocates, and which Mr. Nehru demands, would be followed first by a struggle in the North and thereafter by a reconquest of the South by the North, and of the Hindus by the Moslems."
Prescient indeed!
3) "This danger has not escaped the crafty foresight of the Brahmins. It is for that reason that they wish to have the control of a British army, or failing that, a white army of janissaries officered, as Mr. Gandhi has suggested, by Germans or other Europeans. They wish to have an effective foreign army, or foreign-organised army, in order to preserve their dominance over the Moslems and their tyranny over their own untouchables. There, is the open plot of which we are in danger of becoming the dupes, and the luckless millions of Indians the victims."
Stunningly perceptive about the world!
4) "Gandhi stands for the permanent exclusion of British trade from India."
Without Indian ownership, Britain's greatest manufacturing firm JLR would probably be dead by now. Sold for $2 billion in 2008 to Indians, it now has annual profits larger than that sale price.
5) " In assailing the moral duty of Great Britain in India, the Socialist Government and all who aid and abet Mr. Ramsay Macdonald and his Socialist Government, or make their path smooth, will find they have stumbled upon a sleeping giant who, when he arises, will tread with dauntless steps the path of justice and of honour."
Hear, hear... or maybe not
