A Forgotten Ambassador in Cairo, page 27
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was arrested on 10 August and her oldest daughter Chandralekha (Lekha) on 30th, and they were lodged in Naini jail near Allahabad. Indira Gandhi and her husband Feroze were also confined here for a few months during this period. The younger daughters, Nayantara (Tara) and Rita, continued to stay at Ananda Bhawan under the care of a governess. Meanwhile, Ranjit Pandit, who had been in Bombay, returned to Allahabad and was also arrested and sent to Naini jail on 19 September. Due to her ill health, Vijaya Lakshmi was released from prison on parole for thirty days in March 1943, and Lekha too was freed soon after. Ranjit and Vijaya Lakshmi felt that the education of their two older daughters, Lekha and Tara, should be insulated from the political vicissitudes of the time, and decided to send them to Wellesley College (Massachusetts) in the United States for their undergraduate studies. Their admission to the college was facilitated by Madame Chiang Kai-shek, wife of the President of the Republic of China, a close family friend of the Nehrus, and herself an alumnus of Wellesley College.
After bidding goodbye to their father in prison in what would be their last meeting with him, the girls left for Bombay on 19 April 1943.4 Their aunt, Krishna, saw them off from Bombay on 15 May on an American troop ship. The girls were originally supposed to go to New York via the Atlantic but this ship sailed east. It was a perilous journey; the Japanese Navy was still active in the oceans, though with reduced potency. The sisters stopped briefly at Melbourne and Wellington en route, sailed across the Pacific, disembarked at San Pedro harbour in Los Angeles and then took the train to New York. They arrived there sometime in June 1943 to be welcomed by their host, Frances Gunther, the wife of John Gunther, author, journalist and world traveler.5 Rita would come later to the United States in January 1945 to join the Putney School in Vermont.
The American Press found the sisters an exotic novelty and a welcome diversion from war-related coverage, and many newspapers reported on their forthcoming entry into college. In a typical report, below a photograph of the girls attired in saris, the Los Angeles Times said: “Two Girls From India Want to Keep Up With Americans—Chandralekha and Nayantara Pandit figure they’ll have to start wearing American clothes when they start to college at Wellesley. The two dark-eyed sisters from Allahabad, India, are quite sure their colorful saris won’t do for school attire. ‘Your Americans move too fast,’ smiled 19-year-old Chandralekha. ‘I’m afraid we should trip over our saris if we attempted to keep up with you.’ Daughters of a wealthy Hindu family, the sisters plan to study social work and journalism at the New England college and return to India to become career women following their graduation. They declined to discuss the mixed-up Indian political situation (their father is a politician) but did verify the general Indian hatred of the Japs and friendship for Americans. As for the British, Chandralekha declared diplomatically: ‘We don’t look upon them very favorably at present.’”6 The positive press that the girls got perhaps exceeded the column lengths that many Prime Ministers get today when visiting the United States. When asked about it, Nayantara Sahgal disarmingly said, “It’s only because we were Nehru’s nieces.”7
Knowing that her daughters were adjusting well to American student life, Vijaya Lakshmi decided to go to Bengal to help with the famine relief. The Bengal Famine of 1943 was one of the great tragedies of the twentieth century. Over three million people died, countless children were orphaned, and innumerable became destitute. While the reasons for the famine were many, it was exacerbated by the wilful indifference of the administrative machinery leading to a catastrophe of Himalayan proportions. As Indian parliamentarian Shashi Tharoor writes, “Thanks to Churchill’s personal decisions, more than three million Bengalis died of hunger in a 1943 famine. Churchill deliberately ordered the diversion of food from starving Indian civilians to well-supplied British soldiers and even to top up European stockpiles, meant for yet-to-be-liberated Greeks and Yugoslavs. ‘The starvation of anyway underfed Bengalis is less serious’ than that of ‘sturdy Greeks’, he argued. When reminded of the suffering of Bengalis, his response was typically Churchillian: The famine was the Indians’ own fault, he said, for ‘breeding like rabbits’. If the suffering was so dire, he peevishly wrote on the file, ‘Why hasn’t Gandhi died yet?’”8
When Vijaya Lakshmi was on a visit to Allahabad taking a break from her exertions in Bengal, she came to know about Ranjit’s serious condition. He had suffered a heart attack and his condition deteriorated so badly that it necessitated his transfer to the civil hospital in Lucknow. Fate then dealt Vijaya Lakshmi a cruel wallop. Her husband of twenty-three years, the gentle and scholarly Ranjit Pandit, died on 14 January 1944 with the onset of pleurisy. Prison life, especially his last few months at the dreaded Bareilly jail, had debilitated him beyond cure. Vijaya Lakshmi was devastated. Theirs had been a wonderfully happy marriage, despite, or perhaps because of, all the adversities that they had faced together. What compounded her troubles was that Ranjit died intestate, and as per the Hindu inheritance law then existing, his brother Pratap became lord and master of all of Ranjit’s moveable and immovable assets, and he refused to give any part of it to his late brother’s wife. Vijaya Lakshmi had to pare down her expenses to the bone, and for many months lived on the goodwill of friends and relatives. Months of protracted and unpleasant discussions between her emissaries and Pratap got her a few crumbs at the end. Gandhi, who had been released from prison on 6 May 1944, advised her to accept the settlement and move on without rancour.9
Vijaya Lakshmi returned to Bengal, which was now under an epidemic of cholera, to continue her work in famine relief. She then got a message from Gandhi who was keen for her to go to the United States and inform the American public about the happenings in India. The strict censorship then prevailing in India meant that virtually no news on India showing the government in poor light was allowed to be publicised. It was decided that Vijaya Lakshmi would be part of the Indian delegation to the conference organised by the Institute of Pacific Relations in Hot Springs, Virginia in January 1945, where there would be a discussion of colonial and economic issues, as well as planning for the future of Asian countries after their liberation from Japan at the end of the war. A seemingly insurmountable problem now surfaced. Vijaya Lakshmi’s passport had been confiscated and it seemed scarcely possible that it would be reissued by the British administration at this time. However, a blend of circumstances—a friendlier viceroy in Lord Wavell, sympathy for a recently-turned widow, influential friends quietly pulling strings at the highest levels of the American government—proved lucky for her, and Vijaya Lakshmi found herself sitting on a bucket seat of an American military plane and taking off from Calcutta in December 1944 to New York.10 It was believed that President Roosevelt himself facilitated her visit, dispensing with the requirement of a passport, and putting a U.S. army plane at her disposal.11
26
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit in the United States
(1945)
VIJAYA LAKSHMI PANDIT landed in New York and was put up at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel for a week through the courtesy of the State Department. This was her first ever visit to the United States, and Vijaya Lakshmi was “overwhelmed, dazzled and bewildered” by what she saw in New York when she went shopping for clothes with Pearl Buck. Finding the Waldorf Astoria too ostentatious, and not keeping with the image she wanted to project, Vijaya Lakshmi moved to an apartment that she rented. During her first week there, she travelled to Washington D.C. to meet Mrs Eleanor Roosevelt, (the President’s wife) who, however, was unable to receive her at the White House due to diplomatic sensitivities.1 She nonetheless hosted Vijaya Lakshmi for lunch at another venue. Vijaya Lakshmi was also given a big reception by the Chinese Consul General in New York and over the next few weeks she was the toast of the city and befriended the elite of the country in the numerous events she was invited to.2
The newspapers went berserk over her. A widely syndicated Associated Press article published soon after she landed in the United States described her political background and then went on, “Mrs. Pandit looks surprisingly young to be the mother of three daughters in their teens. Her olive cheek has a youthful curve, her dark eyes spark with interest, her curly silver hair is trimmed in a youthful cut. Mrs. Pandit’s voice is gentle, her English fluent, her mind swift-paced. She is a curious combination of Asiatic languor and American speed. Watch her sweep her sari about her and you see a smooth polished Brahmin (member of the highest Hindu caste). Listen to her telephone conversation—‘Please call me at three-twenty…I’ll be ready at four thirty-five’—and you hear a woman whose activity is a close match for a high powered American business executive.”3
Nayantara and Chandralekha visited their mother in New York during the break from their school. Nayantara recalls that Syud Hossain came to their home one evening for a drink. Vijaya Lakshmi introduced him to her daughters as “Uncle Syud”. This was the first time the girls had met Syud but there was no awkwardness at all during the meeting, he was just treated as part of the family, and conversation flowed freely. The relationship between her mother and Syud Hossain was something that was never hidden from the family; everyone including her father, Ranjit, knew about it and it was simply accepted as a teenage romance with a glamorous nationalist; her mother’s earlier relationship with Hossain did not in any way affect her parents’ exceptionally happy marital relationship. When asked who specifically opposed the marriage between the two, Nayantara replied, “Everybody opposed it. In those days people did not inter-marry. Moreover, she was my grandfather’s most beloved daughter, and there was no way he would let her spoil her life.” Nayantara was of the view that though Jawaharlal was earlier upset at the incident, his friendship with Syud continued undiminished over the years.4
A quarter of a century had elapsed since Syud Hossain and Vijaya Lakshmi had separated; they had been witnesses, nay even creators, to a dizzying amount of history in the interval, and they were delighted to be back together, not so much romantically, but to talk of shared memories and future plans. Vijaya Lakshmi was relieved and happy to find an old friend in this bedlam of strangers. Syud Hossain, now fifty-seven, felt the same tenderness towards the woman in front of him as he had towards the nineteen-year-old who had coyly looked at him across the dinner table at Anand Bhawan at their first meal together. He had never quite got over their blighted romance; his lifelong bachelorhood was a testament to his unrequited love. Syud virtually took Vijaya Lakshmi under his wings. As Vera Brittain writes, “The business of Dr. Hossain’s committee now included the organization of platforms for Vijaya Lakshmi when she reached America to become the voice of independent India.”5 Perhaps, the leaders of other Indian organisations in the U.S.A, resented Syud monopolising Vijaya Lakshmi. M.O. Mathai points out that, “During this period Gandhi received letters from several Indians in the United States complaining that Syud Hossain was following Vijaya Lakshmi every where like her shadow.”6 Nothing though is known about Gandhi’s response.
Of her tour in the United States, Vijaya Lakshmi recounts in her memoirs, “…In New York an India League had been started. At this time the president of the league was J.J. Singh, and many distinguished American names figured on the list of members. Another organization, based in Washington D.C., was the Committee for India’s Freedom. Syed Hossain [sic] was its president and this too was supported by a number of well-known Americans. This committee published a weekly called The Voice of India…I was happy to meet him again and to have his cooperation for our common cause.”7 Vijaya Lakshmi and the other delegates who had come with her participated as non-voting observers in the International Conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations at Hot Springs, Virginia in early-January, the original purpose of their visit. After this event, the two main Indian organisations in America ensured that Vijaya Lakshmi got enough visibility through their respective forums. The India League of America (ILA), headed by J.J. Singh, hosted a dinner in her honour on 26 January 1945 (what was then called “Indian Independence Day”) at the Hotel Commodore in New York. Among the over thousand guests were the prominent writers and thinkers of the day such as Pearl Buck, William Shirer and Lin Yutang.8 On 29 January, Vijaya Lakshmi addressed a public meeting at the National Press Club auditorium in Washington D.C. organised by the National Committee for India’s Freedom (NCIF). Syud Hossain presided and the speakers included Shridharani, Anup Singh, and Congressman Emanuel Celler.9
Shortly thereafter, Vijaya Lakshmi got down to the real business of informing the American public about the situation in India. She hired the Clark Getts Lecture Bureau as her manager to organise her talks. It was planned to be a yearlong assignment with Vijaya Lakshmi giving lectures across the country, in the larger cities as well as in the smaller towns. Clark Getts Agency presented her as “one of the world’s most important women of our time, notable for her great ideals and deep personal sacrifices for the benefit of her people”. Her topics included: “What Kind of Post-war world?”, “Why India wants Independence?”, “Democratic Guarantee of Peace”, “The Hope for World Betterment” and so on.10 It was a tough schedule that left her drained at the end of the day. But she soon began to enjoy her experience; the friendships she developed, the publicity she got, and the money she made were the perfect antidotes to ennui and exhaustion.
With the war decisively turning in their favour after 1943, the Allied Powers had recognised the need for a post-war international organisation to succeed the League of Nations. The Dumberton Oaks Conference held on 7 October 1944 in Washington D.C., and attended by the United States, Great Britain, the USSR and China gave a proposal for the structure of such a world body called the United Nations, and this was circulated to all the countries for their views. In the next meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin at Yalta on 11 February 1945, it was decided to hold a conference of the United Nations at San Francisco on 25 April 1945 to prepare the charter for the UN. Forty-six nations, including the big four, were invited. With eight hundred and fifty delegates and their attendant staff, this was the largest ever international gathering in history.11 The conference went on till 26 June 1945, the day when the United Nations Charter was signed at the Herbst Theatre in the Civic Center in San Francisco. The United Nations came into being on 24 October 1945 once the governments of a majority of the signatory countries ratified the charter. Though India, Canada, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia were British colonies, they were given independent seats in the UN General Assembly and were signatories to the UN Charter. The official three-member Indian delegation to the San Francisco conference was headed by Sir Arcot Ramaswami Mudaliar, others being Sir. V.T. Krishnamachari and Sir Firoz Khan Noon. The first two members signed the UN Charter on India’s behalf.
Though Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was not an official member of India’s UN delegation, it was felt by both the organisations (Syud’s and J.J.’s) that to showcase Vijaya Lakshmi at San Francisco at this time as the true representative of the country would be a publicity coup, and also greatly embarrass the British government and the official delegation. They thus named Vijaya Lakshmi their representative at the conference. The May 1945 issue of Voice of India announced that, “The National Committee for India’s Freedom and the India League of America jointly decided that Mrs. Pandit should be the sole spokesman for the cause of India during the time of the proposed conference at San Francisco.”12 Syud Hossain thereafter organised a small group of Indians that included Vijaya Lakshmi, J.J. Singh, Anup Singh, Shiva Rao and himself to talk outside the official conference halls and attack the members of the official delegation as not being representative of India since the country’s top leaders such as Nehru and Azad were still in prison. The NCIF also brought out a fifteen-page booklet titled, “India and the San Francisco Conference”, which contained short articles by Vijaya Lakshmi, Syud Hossain, Shridharani, Anup Singh and Muzumdar giving India’s point of view. It was distributed free to all the delegates of the conference.
The Voice of India in its issue of June 1945 described the proceedings of the conference and listed Vijaya Lakshmi’s packed program in California.13 Her main events were:
April 25: Arrival in San Francisco
April 26: Press Conference to be attended by over 400 news correspondents
April 27: Address a public meeting at Scottish Rite Auditorium presided by Syud Hossain
April 28: Address a mass meeting of Indians at Sacramento
May 4: Speech before the Friday Morning Club in Los Angeles with two thousand people in attendance
May 5: Address a meeting of the Indian National Congress Association of America (the Sikh organisation)
May 13: Address a joint meeting of Indians and Americans at the Sikh Gurdwara in Stockton
May 14: Address to the California State Assembly in Sacramento
May 28: Address a public meeting at Scottish Rite Auditorium, with Syud Hossain presiding
June 18: Press Conference at Mark Hopkins Hotel
A few random newspaper reports of those days reveal the positive attention that was showered on Vijaya Lakshmi. The San Francisco Examiner said, “Delegation disowned by India’s First Lady. Quietly and resolutely, India’s petite ‘first lady of politics’, made clear the attitude of millions of her countrymen toward the San Francisco Conference. Wearing a gracefully simple white silk sari, with a strand of small pearls and a wedding ring as her only jewels, [she] declared: ‘I desire to make it clear that the so-called Indian “representatives” attending the San Francisco Security Conference have not the slightest representative capacity, no sanction of mandate from any responsible groups in India, and are merely the nominees of the British Government. Anything they say here, or any vote they cast, can have no binding effect or force on the people of India. They are sailing here under false colors. All three delegates have been knighted by the British government, which binds them to do the will of the British to a degree almost unbelievable.’”14
