Insane racist Churchill

As many as three million people died in the Bengal famine of 1943. The "man-made" famine has long been one of the darkest chapters of the British Raj. The famine was partly a deliberate act. India was forced to export grain in the early years of war and in 1943 was exporting rice at Churchill's personal insistence. Britain ruthlessly exploited India during war and didn't let up even when famine started. A new book claims Winston Churchill deliberately let millions of Indians starve to death, motivated in part by racial hatred.

After Japan captured neighbouring Burma -a major source of rice imports-British colonial rulers in India stockpiled food for soldiers and war workers. Panic-buying of rice sent prices soaring, and distribution channels were wrecked when officials confiscated or destroyed most boats and bullock carts in Bengal to stop them falling into enemy hands if Japan invaded. Rice suddenly became scarce in markets and, as worsening hunger spread through villages, Churchill repeatedly refused pleas for emergency food shipments. Madhusree Mukerjee has uncovered evidence that Churchill was directly responsible for the appalling suffering. Her book, "Churchill's Secret War", quotes previously unused papers that disprove his claim that no ships could be spared from the war and that show him brushing aside increasingly desperate requests from British officials in India.

"It wasn't a question of Churchill being inept: sending relief to Bengal was raised repeatedly and he and his close associates thwarted every effort," Mukerjee told AFP "The United States and Australia offered to send help but couldn't because the war cabinet was not willing to release ships. And when the US offered to send grain on its own ships, that offer was not followed up by the British."

"I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion," Churchill told Leo Amery, the secretary of state for India, accusing Indians of effectively causing the famine by "breeding like rabbits." Amery could not see much difference between Churchill's outlook and Hitler's. Amery wrote in his diary: "I am by no means sure whether on this subject of India he is really quite sane."

See also this article.