India and the Congress

Jewel of the British Empire, India then numbers more than 350 million inhabitants and provides an immense reserve of men and resources. But the national movement, carried by the Congress of Gandhi and Nehru, demands independence and tolerates British domination less and less.

In the summer of 1939, the prospect of a European war poses a dilemma to the Indian leaders. The Viceroy, London's representative, can commit India to war without even consulting the Indian elected representatives — which appears as a humiliation and a denial of the country's aspirations.

The Congress must define its line. To support the British war effort against fascism, which it abhors, but demanding in return a firm promise of independence? To refuse all cooperation as long as independence is not granted, at the risk of appearing to serve the Axis? Or to launch a mass agitation to take advantage of London's weakening? Gandhi, attached to non-violence, and Nehru, viscerally anti-fascist, must reconcile morality, strategy and national impatience. The line the Congress chooses will involve not only India's war effort, but the very future of the bond between the subcontinent and the Empire.