India-South Africa India-South Africa 2019 | Page 27

Africa Committee wrote a letter to Sir Sita
Ram on 25 June 1914 stating: “At a meeting
of the U.P. South Africa Committee held
on the 17th of May1914 it was resolved to
inform the donors that the money contributed
by them to the U.P. South Africa Relief Fund
(A relief fund started by the Congress in 1909,
at Gokhale’s instance, in aid of Gandhi’s
passive resistance campaign in South
Africa. In 1913 Jawaharlal became Joint
Secretary of the U.P. branch) after December
22, 1913, being not required now for the
relief of passive resisters in South Africa,
was held by the Committee in their hands
subject to the instructions of the donors. I
enclose a stamped postcard for your reply.
Please fi ll it in and return it to me at your
early convenience (Sita Ram. 1914: 103).”
It showed the real commitment of Indian
leadership to supporting the Southern Africa
liberation movement.
Friends on Toes during Colonialism
Nehru spoke on Independence in Three
Years at Allahabad, on 02 October 1945,
“I have also received a letter from Africa
in which it is stated that the Africans are
watching India’s struggle for freedom,
which they wish to follow. Their fight
for their independence on the lines of
Congress indicates that the question of
the independence of India has got more
signifi cance. It implies that the Congress, in
fi ghting for independence, is also fi ghting for
the independence of other slave countries.
Therefore, India will have to persist in
fi ghting, not only for the freedom of its own
but for the greater responsibility of taking
up the struggle of other countries.” (Address
of J. Nehru. 1945: 209). It is important to
note here that the Indians did not intend to
recognise or submit to the theory and practice
of racial arrogance and discrimination. South
African Indians never claim anything which
might be against the rights and dignity of the
African people.
Friend on Toes after 1947 independence
As for India, her own experience and
protracted struggle for freedom from foreign
rule has endowed her with deep sympathy
for similar struggles in other countries. Her
policy has been to support the right of all
peoples, irrespective of their colour or creed,
to compete independence and equality under
a government of their choice. That was the
basis of the policy of the Congress Party even
while India was fi ghting for her own freedom.
As a matter of fact, India was the fi rst country
to raise the question of racial discrimination
in South Africa in the UN General Assembly
in 1946. We have always supported the
just struggle of the people of South Africa,
Namibia, Zimbabwe, Angola, Mozambique,
India had spent
more than one
and a quarter
million rupees so
far to assist these
movements. The
large demand on
our resources
at home puts a
severe limitation
on our capability
to assist them.
India-South Africa • 2019 • 27