Edinburgh Papers In South Asian Studies Number 20 (2006) ________________________________________________________________________ THE ANATOMY OF DISSENT IN THE MILITARY OF COLONIAL INDIA DURING THE FIRST AND SECOND WORLD WARS Gajendra Singh School of History & Classics University of Edinburgh For further information about the Centre and its activities, please contact the Director Centre for South Asian Studies, School of Social & Political Studies, University of Edinburgh, 21 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD. e-mail:
[email protected] web page: www.csas.ed.ac.uk ISBN 1-900795-21-3 ISBN 13 978-1-900795-21-0 Paper Price: £5.00 inc. postage and packing The Anatomy of Dissent in the Military of Colonial India during the First and Second World Wars Introduction Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, after the fateful decisions taken by General Dyer in the sweltering heat of the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, was in no doubt that the Indian soldier was completely shorn from the nationalist spirit enthusing his civilian counterparts, and that the only solution was for him to return to his loom; Many weavers of the Punjab have left their handlooms for the sword of the hireling. I consider the former to be infinitely preferable to the latter. I refuse to call the profession of the sepoy honourable when he has no choice as to the time when or people against whom he is called upon to use his sword. The sepoys’ services have most often been utilized for enslaving us than protecting us…1 Somewhat surprisingly, where the Mahatma saw cause only for despair and the disparagement of Indian ‘Other Ranks’ in 1919, he came to look upon the Indian sipahi in a completely different light in 1945 after the revolt of the Indian National Army (INA); Though I can have nothing in common with any defence by force of arms, I am never blind to the valour and patriotism often displayed by persons in arms, as seems to be the case here [in the INA].