Zareer Masani

The word most often heard from those who knew Zareer is “brave.” His courage in confronting biased and unbalanced history was legendary. We were honored to publish his articles and lectures, written or filmed, and many more times to consult him on the fine points of Indian and British history. Never did he let us down, offering his knowledge, his acumen, and his fair and balanced judgment.

Early in the drive for Indian independence, a federal system and dominion status were proposed. Through the 1937 elections, the Muslim League and Hindu Congress were united in their wishes. Dr. Masani explains how the break occurred—and how Nehru responded to Minoo Masani’s warning that the Muslim League would reject further collaboration.

The promise of Dominion status required only that Congress, the Muslim League and the princes agree on power-sharing at a federal Centre. To blame Churchill for the internal divisions that obstructed such a coalition obfuscates reality. A power-sharing deal between Nehru and Jinnah would have made nonsense of Churchill’s fears. Instead, India’s fragile imperial unity fell apart under majoritarian strains. That gave Churchill the dubious distinction of being proved right.

The costs and benefits of empire are not morally commensurate and incapable of being compared in those terms. Outcomes good and bad are historically and ethically complex. The best we can do is to make balanced moral judgments of the Empire’s aims and intentions, even if their execution was often flawed or the consequences sometimes unintended. As for the charge of imperial nostalgia, there can be none, since the British Empire, so long past, never can return.

A forensic examination and point-by-point of a Cambridge University panel on Churchill, race, the British Empire and the Second World War.

Famine and Relief: Far from seeking to starve India, Churchill sought every possible way to alleviate the suffering without undermining the war effort.