In this interview with Charles Allen from 1976, Braj Kumar Nehru recalls India’s response to the British declaration of war against Germany on behalf of India. He explains that the Indian public did not support or care about the war and generally felt ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’, although to express this opinion publicly would have been treason. 

Who was Braj Kumar Nehru?

Braj Kumar Nehru was a diplomat, secretary of economic affairs, Indian ambassador to the United States and Britain, and governor of seven states in India. In his early career he was a member of the British-run Indian Civil Service. He was also a first cousin once removed of Jawaharlal Nehru. 

About the British in India Oral Archive

These interviews were carried out between 1975 and 1976 to supplement the BBC's popular Plain Tales of the Raj radio series. The project was jointly conducted by the National Sound Archive (NSA), the India Office Library & Records (IOLR) and the School of Oriental and African Studies. The NSA and the IOLR became part of the British Library in the early 1980s and are now known as the British Library Sound Archive and the India Office Records respectively. The collection includes interviews conducted in the UK, India and Pakistan with a wide range of people, including Lord Mountbatten, B K Nehru and British civil servants. The interviews cover the role of the Viceroy, the royal family, missionary work, the police force, the Indian Civil Service in Burma, trade and shipping in Calcutta (now Kolkata), the Japanese invasion during the Second World War and the Nehru family. The interviews were conducted almost exclusively with those who had roles in the administration of the British government in India, and this is reflected in their content. The full recordings from the British in India Oral Archive are archived at the British Library Sound Archive, with collection reference C5.

CHARLES ALLEN:

What were your personal reactions to the British entry into the war?

BRAJ KUMAR NEHRU:

Well I had no particular personal reactions. I took it for granted that the British government would declare war on behalf of India, because everybody knew what the actual situation was. As it happens the British Prime Minster didn’t declare war, the British viceroy did [laughs]. But the Congress governments then resigned, as you will remember, on the grounds that they hadn’t been consulted. This was, I suppose a technical ground, but the fact of the matter is that nobody in India was for the war. In the 1914 war, all the nationalists were pro-German. In the 1939 war, all the nationalists were pro-German. I mean, they had to keep their feelings – oh not all the nationalists, no.  Gandhi was not, Jawaharlal was not. But the normal reaction was that, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. So what the hell?