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An
online oral history of South Asian Diasporas
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Saturday,
Nov 1, 2003 Vol 1, Issue: 19,
A publication of the High Commission of India
London
Rare Nehru radio interview recovered
A rare
radio interview of India ’s first prime minister
Jawaharlal Nehru has been recovered and made
available on a pioneering London-based website,
HistoryTalking.com, founded by Vijay Rana, a
former BBC journalist, in June this year. The
interview with Nehru, during the 1962 war with
China, was recorded by a Kenyan journalist of
Indian origin. "How can I throw light on
Panchsheel? The Chinese have spread darkness all
over," Nehru told Chaman Lal Chaman, a
reporter for the Kenyan Broadcasting Corporation
during the interview recorded in New Delhi. The
interview was broadcast on November 4,1962, days
after the Chinese invasion. Panchsheel comprised
five principles of co-existence drawn up with
China. Asked about fears that the initial
skirmishes could deteriorate into a full-scale
war, Nehru told Chaman: "First of all
I will advise people to throw out this fear from
their hearts. They have to be ready for every
situation. If you are afraid, your strength
declines." Chaman asked if Nehru would change
the policy towards China. Nehru acknowledged that
China was a powerful country, but then India was
not a small country either. HistoryTalking.com is
an online oral history project of the South Asian
Diaspora and has attracted several rare recordings
kept in personal collections from various
countries. It operates on a non-profit basis. In
the early 1960s,some of the largest concentrations
of non-resident Indians were in East African
countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. |
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