One Man Lobby’? Propaganda, Nationalism in the Diaspora, and the India League of America During the Second World War

Bibliographic Data

ID11943526
AuthorsDhiru Patel (0000-0003-3395-4030, corresponding author), Dinyar Patel (S.P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai, India)
Year2021
Volume49
Issue6
Pages1110-1140
Publication date2021-08-10
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Imperial & Commonwealth History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0308-6534 • E-ISSN: 1743-9329
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03086534.2021.1950324
OpenAlexW3194346619
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited23

During the Second World War, Indian nationalists and the British government engaged in a fierce propaganda war to win over American public opinion concerning Indian political demands. In spite of its comparatively limited resources, the India League of America – which began as a small group of nationalist-minded Indians in New York in 1937 – achieved remarkable success in cultivating American support. It did so by harnessing sophisticated public relations strategies, building strong ties with prominent Americans, and engaging in intensive lobbying in Washington, DC. The India League’s success, which has been largely overlooked by scholars, provides a new dimension for understanding Indian wartime political developments, highlighting the roles played by Indians in the American diaspora. Moreover, the India League’s story demonstrates the fundamentally transnational orientation of Indian nationalism. Indians in the diaspora played a critical role in sustaining international networks of support for India’s freedom and, simultaneously, the diaspora remained firmly embedded in Indian nationalist consciousness. The India League’s activities, furthermore, had vital post-war consequences: its leaders, especially J.J. Singh, helped consolidate a pro-Indian constituency in the United States that sustained bilateral relations after 1947 and helped put the Indian diaspora in America on a firmer political and legal footing

Diaspora · Economic history · Government (linguistics · Indian nationalism · League · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Australian History and Society · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · History · Law

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