Churchill & Gandhi

When They Met and When They Didn’t

The fact that Winston Churchill and Mohandas K. Gandhi met face to face in 1906 has become well known. Gandhi requested an appointment with the Under Secretary for the Colonies to represent concerns about pending legislation in the Transvaal that would restrict the rights of British Indians. The friendly meeting took place on 28 November, with Churchill promising to do what he could. Twenty-five years later, however, Churchill denied a request for a second meeting, when Gandhi was in London for a Round Table conference to discuss a path towards Indian self-government. Less well known is that Churchill’s son Randolph did go to meet Gandhi at that time.

Also little known is that Randolph Churchill had a second meeting with Gandhi that took place on 30 August 1947, just fifteen days following independence, when “India” had been partitioned into modern India and Pakistan. In a letter to his father, Randolph wrote: “In Calcutta I had a long talk with Gandhi, who spoke in terms of high admiration for yourself. He would not commit himself precisely, but I think his influence will be cast on the side of keeping India at least nominally inside the Empire.”

Gandhi’s secretary Nirmal Kumal Bose also wrote about the meeting in his memoirs: “Randolph Churchill, son of Winston Churchill, paid a call in the evening. Mr. [Ibrahim] Suhrawardy [one of Gandhi’s Moslem supporters] was also present in the room at the time. One of the questions which Mr. Churchill asked was, what Gandhiji’s ideas were withregard to the re-union of Pakistan and India. Gandhiji said that his views on partition were very well known, and he, even now, considered partition to be a ‘sin.’ But whether there would be re-union or not was not for him to decide. If the people of both States became so friendly that they voluntarily wished to be one, there would indeed be nothing like it.”Gandhi was assassinated five months later to the day by a Hindu fanatic who did not share these enlightened views.

Winston Churchill had already expressed admiration for Gandhi’s defense of the Untouchables and told a mutual acquaintance that his view of the Mahatma had risen highly as a result. Both men had feared sectarian violence would engulf South Asia following independence and took different paths to forestall this. Both men failed. Perhaps the longtime adversaries who had developed a certain respect for each other before the end had more in common than they realized.

This article is taken from the newest issue of Finest Hour, which is about “Churchill and India.” To subscribe and receive a copy, become a member of the International Churchill Society by CLICKING HERE.

Bulletin #203 — April 2025