Churchill's Secret War: The British Empire and the Ravaging of India during World War II

EXCELLENT TEN STARS !FOR YEARS WE HAVE BEEN MADE TO BELIEVE THAT WINSTON CHURCHILL HAS BEEN A HERO,BUT THIS BOOK WRITTEN BY MADHUSREE MUKERJEE DEMYSTIFY THIS, HIS ACTION DURINGWORLD WAR TWO IN INDIA, IN WHICH THREE MILLIONS PERISHED IN A FAMINE ( ESPECIALLYIN THE BENGAL REGION), SHOWS THAT CHURCHILL WAS ONE OF THE MOST EVIL FIGURES INTHE TWENTY CENTURY NOT DIFFERENT THAN HITLER, STALIN, MAO AND CASTRO.THE BRITISH COLONIZATION IN INDIA COULD BE DESCRIBED AS A PUNISHMENT; AS THE AUTHORPOINTS OUT BENGAL ( TODAY BANGLADESH), WAS A PROSPEROUS COUNTRY BEFORE THEBRITISH CAME IN THE LATE EIGHTEEN CENTURY, INDIA ITSELF WAS RULED BY THE MOGULSWHO HAVE SHORTCOMINGS AND ACHIEVEMENTS, THE HINDUS AND MOSLEMS COEXISTED,ALL OF THESE CAME TO AN END WHEN THE BRITISH TOOK OVER, FOR MORE THAN A CENTURYTHE COUNTRY WAS RAVAGED, THERE WERE PERIODS OF FAMINE, IN FACT THE BEGINNING OFTHE COLONIZATION STARTED WITH A FAMINE.THE COLONIAL RULE SOWED ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS DIVISIONS, THAT HAVE LEFT AFTER 1947, THE YEAROF THE INDEPENDENCE AND PARTITION ;A LEGACY OF INTERCOMMUNAL VIOLENCE THAT PERSISTSTO THIS DAY IN ALL SOUTH ASIA.THE YEAR 1943 WAS THE WORST, IN SPITE THAT THE STOCKPILES WERE PLENTY OF FOOD THEY WEREDELIBERATELY WITHHELD FROM THE BENGAL POPULATION WITH THE EXCUSE THAT IT WAS NEEDEDFOR THE WAR, THE AUTHOR POINTS OUT THAT INDIA WAS THE MAIN SOURCE NOT ONLY IN MATERIALRESOURCES BUT IN TROOPS FOR THE PROSECUTION OF THE WAR NOT FOR ITSELF BUT ON BEHALFOF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, STILL CHURCHILL REGARDED THE INDIANS ESPECIALLY THE HINDUS WITHTHE UTMOST DISRESPECT.THE INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS HEADED BY MAHATMA GHANDI AND JAWAHARAL NEHRU ACTEDWITH PATRIOTISM AND LOVE FOR THEIR COUNTRY BY NOT COOPERATING WITH THE COLONIALAUTHORITIES IN THE WAR EFFORT AS OPPOSED TO THE COMMUNISTS THAT WERE SERVILE TO THESOVIET IMPERIALISM ( CHURCHILL AND STALIN WERE ALLIES AT THAT TIME) ; HOWEVER THEGREATEST OF ALL THE INDIAN PATRIOTS AND I WILL ADD THE QUINTAESSENTIAL OF PATRIOTISM ANDLOVE AND DEDICATION FOR HIS COUNTRY WAS THE NATIONALIST LEADER SUBHAS CHANDRA BOSE,LEADER OF THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY FROM 1943 TO 1945 ( IT WAS FOUNDEDIN 1942 BY MOHAN SINGH) , THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY (INA) FOUGHT VALIANTLY AND CORAGEOUSLY ALONGSIDE THE JAPANESE ARMY IN SOUTHEAST ASIA; IN SPITE THAT THEY NEVERENTERED INDIA THEIR STRUUGGLE WITH BOSE AT THE HEAD SERVED AS AN EXAMPLE FOR THE INDIANPEOPLE TO THROW OUT THE YOKE OF BRITISH COLONIALISM AFTER WORLD WAR TWO.THE INDIAN NATIONAL ARMY WAS COMPOSED OF HINDUS, MOSLEMS AND SIKHS, THEY WERE UNITEDUNDER THE BANNER OF INDEPENDENCE, ALL OF THEM FELT PART OF THE INDIAN NATION REGARDLESSOF THEIR RELIGION IN CONTRAST TO THE DIVISIVE AND SECTARIAN POLICIES OF THE COLONIAL AUTHORITIES.

Whoever proclaims that he will be judged kindly in history because he intends to write it must surely be a man that cannot be trusted. Churchill had wilfully ensured, by his conduct, and unavoidably, by his appearance, that he will be likened to a bulldog. His admirers also likened him to a lion (probably the only kind native to England). Although his leadership in the Second World War was clearly vital to England, some may not agree. The Americans occasionally have their reservations in this regard (see Mukerjee). A war-time prime minister probably required qualities that might not be appropriate in a prime minister in peace-time. M Mukerjee has written what seems to be a well-researched book on Churchill's darker side. "Winston Churchill's true love was war, and it took precedence over such dreary matters as colonial economics" she wrote. Has she made a case? That should be left to the reader. This was a fine, evocative book without appearing to be so. Churchill's prejudice against Asians and contempt for the colonies was made abundantly clear without hyperbolic descriptions. Some blame might be attributed to the "goad", Lord Cherwell who was so right-wing he could have made Churchill appear left. "Those who succeed in getting what everyone wants must be the ablest" she quoted Cherwell as saying. Lord Cherwell also thought the masses to be "very stupid" and advocated a tough attitude to homosexuals and criminals who, he was convinced, ought to be treated harshly (Mukerjee wrote "cruelly") because "the amount of pleasure derived by other people from the knowledge that a malefactor is being punished far exceeds in sum total the amount of pain inflicted on the malefactor by his punishment."Churchill was perhaps a vain egomaniac and a patriot in that order. That left no place in his mind or heart for the colonies and their natives. Even his determination to recapture Singapore from the Japanese was actuated by the thought that it was "the only prize that will restore British prestige in this region." The thrust of Mukerjee's book was the detailed account of the famine in Bengal in 1943. She set out a riveting narrative of the conditions that led to it; the stance taken by the British government, and more critically, the conduct of the British cabinet (led by that leonine prime minister) and administration, that resulted in a horrific tragedy in which millions died of a famine that could have been averted. Mukerjee added personal accounts of the people who suffered or had witnessed the suffering, into her narrative.It's fair to say that Winston Churchill was not only a sturdy war-time prime minister but also a fine prose writer. For his effort in writing "history" Churchill was eventually awarded the Nobel Prize - for literature. Perhaps he didn't fool all the people after all.

Heartbreaking and tragic. Well written and researched. Throws new light on Churchill that needs to be considered alongside the airbrushed version of history that we learned at school.

Very much an eye opener. darkness inside a great man. Wonderful to read. Look forward to more from this author.

My father joined the Royal Air Force in 1943 and at the age of 18 passed through Kolkata on his way to the Burma front in Manipur. I first heard of the great famine in Bengal from him. He was moved by the misery and helplessness of the people, but did not quite understand then, that his masters were the one's who had created the problem. Madhusree's book is extremely well researched and presented coherently. The introduction chapter flows well and sets the tone for the rest of the book. As an individual reader, I was overwhelmed by the details of depredation of our people of Bengal. This reducing , a once thriving people to rank penury, poverty, hunger, alongwith collapse of their gentle nature and structures of good society, must rank as one of the largest human rights violation in human history. I had to put the book aside every now and then as I could only take that mush misery at a time. Indian history is coming of age and our educational institutions should take note.

History has mostly dubbed , Churchill , Stalin and Roosevelt as heroes and Churchill (especially after the latest movie 'the darkest hour's' success) particularly was considered a hero . However for 1940s India , Churchill and Hitler weren't a whole lot differentIn fact , for much of India , Hitler was a foreign monster in a foreign land , committing atrocities on a foreign community , Churchill and the British Empire were the big bad monsters at home , killing them after the torture of taxations , Starvations , rapes , and mass shootings .Ms. Mukharjee's book details the attrocities committed by British Empire , the callousness shown by Churchill when it came to India , and she does it all citing sources to back her claims .The main focus of the book obviously deals with Churchill , Bengal famine and everything related to it , however other atrocities are also depicted in detail .The gruesomeness feels too real and really pulls the emotional distress beacon in every fibre of my body as a reader . However sometimes this gruesomeness also feels too heavy and makes you want to stop reading .For every history enthusiast who wants to learn more and question the "History is written by the Victor" idiom , this is a must read

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