Nehru, Gandhi, Azad [1] and many others in jail. Rioting over most of India, a number of deaths, countless arrests. Ghastly speech by Amery, [2] speaking of Nehru and Co. as “wicked men”, “saboteurs” etc. This of course broadcast on the Empire service and rebroadcast by AIR. [3] The best joke of all was that the Germans did their best to jam it, unfortunately without success.
Terrible feeling of depression among the Indians and everyone sympathetic to India. [Even Bokhari, a Moslem League [4] man, almost in tears and talking about resigning from the BBC.] It is strange, but quite truly the way the British Government is now behaving upsets me more than a military defeat.
[1] Abul Kalam Azad (1888-1958), Indian Nationalist Moslem leader, was spokesman for the Indian National Congress in the 1945 independence negotiations. His India Wins Freedom was published in 1959.
[2] Leo Amery, Conservative M.P., was Secretary of State for India, 1940-45; see Events, 2.7.39, n. 5.
[3] All-India Radio.
[4] The Moslem League was founded as a religious organisation to protect the interests of Moslems in British India. It supported the Indian National Congress until 1935, when Hindu interests dominated the Congress Party and the League was developed into a political organisation. It was led by Mohammed Ali Jinnah and demanded the partition of India. When Pakistan was created in 1947, the League secured control of its first Constituent Assembly.
Orwell Diaries 1938-1942 