Society for Policy Studies in collaboration with India Habitat Centre held a Book Discussion on ” If I Die here, who will Remember Me?” : India and the first World War led by the author Ms. Vedica Kant on October 9, 2014 at 3:PM
Speaker:Vedica Kant holds an M.Phil degree in modern middle eastern studies from the university of Oxford, her interest in the Indian story of the great war grew out of her research into the wartime experience of the Ottoman empire against which many Indians found themselves fighting between 1914 – 1918. She has written widely about the first world war from both an Indian and Turkish perspective in newspapers, magazines and scholarly publications. She also frequently writes on south Asian and middle eastern history, politics and culture. This is her first book.
Programme Details: Date: Thursday, October 9, 2014 Time: 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm Venue: Conference Room, Office of Director, IHC. Core 5A, 6th Floor.
“If I die here, who will remember Me?: India and the First World War” held on 9th October 2014, at The habitat Centre, New Delhi.
The year 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War (WWI). Over four years of warfare more than 20 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives. Due to the spread of colonial power people across the world were drawn into the conflict. However little is known of the fact that the war saw the participation of 1.1 million Indian Soldiers, of which at least 74,187 lost their lives and thousands were grievously injured.
The Society for Policy Studies in collaboration with India Habitat Centre organized a book discussion on “If I die here, who will remember Me?: India and the First World War” led by the author Ms. Vedica Kant. The session was chaired by Rear Admiral Raja Menon (retd).
In the book, Ms. Kant has expressed the need to highlight the robust role played by the Indian soldiers during the WWI. Specializing in middle-eastern studies, she was intrigued by the presence of a large number of Indians in Mesopotamia. Her interest towards analyzing the contribution of the Indian soldiers in WWI was spurred by the some illustrations on the subject that she came across; these ultimately went on be the foundation of her book.
The reason for sparse records and documentation on India’s contribution to the war is attributed to the fact that the British used the Indian troops merely for power projection. Consequently they underplayed the contributions made by the Indian Army in the various theatres of wars where they were employed.
During her research for the book, Ms. Kant observed that the Indian army soldiers fought courageously and in an exemplary manner during the war largely with a sense of duty to uphold the honour of their Regiments. They rendered full support to their western masters, not surprisingly – one in every four allied soldier was an Indian. It is however important to understand that WWI played a key role in igniting nationalist fervor amongst the Indians.
Attempting to go beyond the political dimension, the book touches upon the everyday lives of these Indian soldiers, civil servants, policemen ect who were travelling outside India for the very first time in their lives. The exposure they received made them question the way of life of fellow countrymen back home. As they got acquainted with the development, both economic and social taking place in the western world, and it served only to whet their curiosity.
Mindful of the 1857 mutiny, the British paid special attention to the cultural sensitivities of the Indian soldiers to include their dietary commitments, traditions, etc. The book talks about the grandeur of a palace converted into a makeshift hospital in England where Indian war wounded were interned during their convalescence. For Indians it was a projection of heaven on earth; whereas this was mainly a propaganda by the Empire to lure the soldiers.
A point of emphasis during the discussion was the German desperation to get the Indian army on an assumption that enemy of an enemy is ultimately a friend. However, what the Germans did not contend with is the sense of loyalty of the Indian soldier. Interestingly, a major proportion of the Indian soldiers were Muslim, and the Germans used attempted to introduce the idea of Jihad as a means to garner Indian support. They launched an anti-British propaganda and built the first mosque in Germany for the Muslim Indian POW’s to show respect to the Islamic religion.
According to Ms. Kant there cannot be a uniform story of loyalty vs disloyalty. It was also unfortunate that sacrifices of these Indian soldiers did not become a part of the Indian heritage, as a matter of fact only a few letters spoke about their lives but these informal documents did not frame historical accounts.
Taking up questions from the audience Ms Kant answered each question equal detail and enthusiasm. She felt that initially the Indians fought as it was their duty but soon this got transformed into a situation where they were being forced to fight. When asked about the Indians settling down in Europe post the war or having relationship with the European women, Ms Kant pointed out that the book portrays the phenomena where racial and sexual boundaries between East and West were to be strictly maintained. Violation of these boundaries could lead to strict punishments. Relationships with Muslim men were still permitted but Hindus largely abstained due to their traditional beliefs. So much so, there was no one white nurses in the hospital and the Indians had someone accompanying them all the time.