India-South Africa India-South Africa 2019 | Page 26

SPECIAL REPORT
India and South Africa
Friends on Toes and Friendship Remains
Prof. Suresh Kumar*
L
iberation is historical process. It
is not a single action which can be
completed easily. And for Africa,
liberation has four aspects or stages: fi rst
its freedom from colonialism and racialist
minority rule; second is freedom from
external economic domination; third is
freedom from poverty, injustice, and
oppression imposed upon Africans by
Africans; and fourth is mental freedom – an
end to the mental subjugation which makes
Africans look up to other people or other
nations as inherently superior. Nehru had
mentioned, “Look at Africa, for instance. A
storm is brewing there. The revolt in South
Africa is an old story and was started nearly
forty to fi fty years ago by Mahatma Gandhi
and is now rapidly gaining momentum. It is
now no longer an Indian saga but a revolt
of the people of Africa in which Indians
are also participating. Then, in Northern
Africa, the Arabs in Morocco, Tunisia, and
other countries are also fi ghting for freedom
against the Europeans who are committing
great atrocities there. They too look to
India and it is indeed strange how everyone
who is struggling for freedom looks up to
India. Egypt is an independent country but
is facing a complicated problem. A storm is
raging in East Africa – Kenya and in other
countries. The only part of Africa which is
calm and peaceful is the Gold Coast in the
West where the British Government has
followed a very liberal policy and conceded
many rights to the Africans. So they are
making progress.” (Public speech on Hard
Work. 1953: 45-46).
The idea of NAM was brought forward in
the Bandung Congress on 18 April 1955. It
supported the freedom struggles of the Afro-
Asian countries. NAM also demanded an end
26 • India-South Africa • 2019
to the policy of apartheid in South Africa.
The notion of liberation in its broad
sense, due to various types of liberation
struggles, has continued to acquire nuances
in the volatile political context of Southern
Africa. In eff ect, the links between the major
western powers and the political regimes
in the mineral-rich and geo-strategically
significant Southern African region were
constantly reinforced in colonial and post-
colonial times.
Friends on Toes
The documents of the Indian freedom
struggle share broader solidarity with the
anti-colonial struggle of Southern Africa.
India’s freedom struggle had the fi rst-hand
experience of Mahatma Gandhi’s fight
against racism in South Africa. Along with
it, the different committees of Congress
were aware of Africa’s anti-colonial struggle.
Jawaharlal Nehru, Joint Secretary, U.P. South