Go to for more on politics and culture in Southasia. Mukerjee talks to our editor Aunohita Mojumdar about the enduring cult of Churchill, his role in the Bengal famine, and how colonialism continues to shape modern India. Winston Churchill may have found victory in Europe, but, as this groundbreaking historical investigation reveals, his mismanagement - facilitated by dubious advice from scientist and eugenicist Lord Cherwell - devastated India and set the stage for the massive bloodletting that accompanied independence.In this inaugural episode of the Himal Interviews podcast, we interview the journalist and author Madhusree Mukerjee, who has written extensively on science, colonialism and indigenous rights, among other subjects. The streets of eastern Indian cities were lined with corpses, yet instead of sending emergency food shipments Churchill used the wheat and ships at his disposal to build stockpiles for feeding postwar Britain and Europe.Ĭombining meticulous research with a vivid narrative, and riveting accounts of personality and policy clashes within and without the British War Cabinet, Churchill's Secret War places this oft-overlooked tragedy into the larger context of World War II, India's fight for freedom, and Churchill's enduring legacy. A series of Churchill's decisions between 19 directly and inevitably led to the deaths of some three million Indians. But while he has been widely extolled for his achievements, parts of Churchill's record have gone woefully unexamined.As journalist Madhusree Mukerjee reveals, at the same time that Churchill brilliantly 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 dogged enemy of Hitler, resolute ally of the Americans, and inspiring leader through World War II, Winston Churchill is venerated as one of the truly great statesmen of the last century.
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