I have authored two books related to the subject: (1) A Wake Up Call for Every Indian, based on the last address of Dr B.R. Ambedkar to the Constituent Assembly, 25 November 1949. (2) Sounds of Silences in India’s Constitution: Dangers Ahead (November 2020). What Dr. Ambedkar said was similar to what Sir Winston allegedly said. Their relevance is apparent in today’s politics in India. How we realize this for today and for generations to come depends upon how best we can teach politicians to run democracy by word and deed, not rhetoric. What many politicians have been showing to the people is a fool’s paradise. India’s unity since ancient times comes from traditions and culture that have survived. We have the strength to make a great country if we stand up to the truth.
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Thank-you. And not just in India. —RML

(Reply to message below) “From an area constantly under the threat of droughts, Sir Arthur Cotton turned Tanjore, India, into one of the richest parts of the country via multiple engineering works such as dams and canals. Sir Arthur also founded a hydraulics school in Madras. His work prevented many famines.” (@legacy_of_UK)

Of course Churchill was biased towards India. He was biased toward Britons like Cotton, who left India better than they found it. He was biased toward the 2.5 million Indian volunteers who fought with Britain against the Axis. Churchill’s views are well explained in this post. His antipathy to the Congress hierarchy gave him a blind spot about approaching independence, yet somehow Gandhi thought well of him. (Find out why here). he would be as proud as anyone that India is today the world’s largest democracy—with a form of government derived from Britain’s. This is a complex subject that cannot be addressed by simplistic sloganeering. Nor is Indian opinion at all uniform on Churchill. Read the remarks of others below.

The way Indians are dealing with their differences is incredible. I do not know how the West perceives him but Indians see him as villian. Britons did not came to India to help it.They just looted and left, so they are on no better grounds and thought they were supreme but time changes and now power is shifting towards India and China. Churchill may be a respected figure for Brits but no Indian thinks so. I don’t know about today’s British, they may be sympathetic, but nothing can be done, so historically all Brits are considered evil because they took everything from Indians. It’s not specific to Churchill. Simple thing is that they had powerso exploited others no will like anyone who exploits him or her. Things are changing and young Indians have overcome their hatred but still they feel the pain of past wounds.

Thanks. That’s better sourcing than anyone has found so far. If the phrase was coined before 1973, perhaps someone will know.

“…this juncture is to hand over the destiny of hungry millions into the hands of rascals, rouges and freebooters. Not a bottle of water or a loaf of bread shall escape taxation; only the air will be free.” It is very similar to the miscredited Churchill line.

I am speculating that these quotes were generated by the right wing Hindutwa folks to malign the Congress Party, but it seems that have prophesied their current condition.

Have often thought that Churchill would be pleased to see how the India democracy evolved over the years since 1947, when it began at a fraught time.

My brief is only to confirm what WSC really said, and perhaps draw lessons from it. Otherwise, debate away.

Welcome to the club!

Another soldier in the Onward March of Invincible Ignorance. 1) As Leader of the Opposition, Churchill instructed his party to vote for Indian independence. 2) Many of his remarks have been twisted out of context by people who won’t change their minds and won’t change the subject. 3) Last viceroy, not governor-general. 4) After partition, Churchill didn’t speak to Mountbatten for years. When Mountbatten asked why he said: “What you did in India was like striking me across the face.” 5) Mischiefs is a mild word for Mountbatten’s administration, and the premature exit before boundary questions were settled resulted in the deaths of millions. 6) Nehru was too clever a man to be brain-washed by anybody. By cleverly fanning Mountbatten’s antipathy toward Jinna and the Muslims, it was Nehru who did the brain-washing. 7) If the Axis had won the war Churchill would indeed have been declared a war criminal, and the Axis had quite different things in mind for India than the old British Raj. 8) More dangerous than Hitler and Tojo? Well, Hitler and Tojo certainly thought so.

Thanks, but Churchill’s “rascals” speech is reported in numerous books, never with a proper citation. If you have Falco’s book, please advise his source, if he gives one. Is it Hansard (Parliamentary Debates), the 8-volume Complete Speeches, a memoir by a primary source, or a paper in the Churchill or other archives? If not, it’s the same old story: an invented quotation given credence without justification. See reply to David Bradbury below.