India and Africa
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205400900106 |
| Date | 01 March 1954 |
| Published date | 01 March 1954 |
| Author | George Bennett |
| Subject Matter | Article |
INDIA AND
AFRICA
George
Bennett*
HE
comparisons and
contrasts
between
India
and
Africa
Tstood
out
dramatically.
I
found
throughout
the
nine
weeks
that
I
was
travelling
in
East
Africa
that
there
were
con-
stant
letters
in
the
East
African
Standard
under
the
title
of
this
article.
The references
of
Mr.
Nehru to
Africa
and
the
activities
of
his
able
but
not
overly
tactful
Commissioner
in
East
Africa
have
raised
the
wrath
of
the
European
settlers.
A
by-product
of
Mau
Mau
has
been
the sharpening
of racial feelings
between
all
the
races
of
this
troubled
area.
Not
only
do
the settlers assert
that
Indian
have
sold
arms
to
the
Kikuyu
but
also
such
fantastic
stories are
current
as
that
Mr.
Nehru
applied
to
Mr.
Trygve
Lie
when
Secretary-General
of
the
United
Nations
for "the
Mandate"
for
Tanganyika-this
I
was
asked
to
believe
in
all
seriousness
by
a
prominent
European leader
who
was
offended
by
my
com-
ment:
"that's
a
good
story
!"
Only
a
few
weeks
earlier
in
India
I
had
found
an
equally
ignorant
prejudice
against
the
British
position
in
Africa.
In
the
bursting
of
the
bonds
of
imperialism,
in
the
new
found
joys
of
independence,
"freedom"
is
the
sole
prescription.
The
com-
plexities
of
East
African plural
societies were
unknown.
In-
credulous
surprise
was
the
chief
reaction to
the
information
that
in
Nyasaland
and
Northern
Rhodesia
it
was
the
Africans
who
were
asking
for
Colonial
Office
rule
to
be
maintained.
This
mutual
interest
and
questioning
of
a
person
such
as
myself
travelling
between
the
two
areas
does
indicate
the
aware-
ness
that
the
areas are
linked,
despite
all
that
the
Europeans
in
East
Africa may
wish
to
the
contrary.
In
Kenya
the
anti-
Indian
feeling
appears
at
present
as
strong
as
it
was in
the
1920's.
As
a
result
the
Indians
are
left
to
meditate-as
I
heard
one
of
their
politicians
do
in
addressing
his
people--on
"fear,"
fear
for
their
jobs
from
which
they
are
being
squeezed
by
the
African
on
one
side
and
the
European
on
the
other,
for
their
position
in a
country
where
they
have
only
questionable citizen-
ship
rights,
for
adverse
immigration
rulings,
in
fact
for
their
*Former lecturer
in
history,
University
of
Toronto;
now
a
member
of
the
staff
of
the
Colonial
Institute,
Oxford.
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