THE CONTRIBUTION OF INDIA TO THE DECOLONISATION OF AFRICA

The connection between Africa and India sets from similar colonial backgrounds, especially with the African British colonies: India and British Africa formed the biggest part of the British colonial empire that existed until the second half of the nineteenth century. India's struggle against  colonialism  of the British  took almost  a century (about ninety  years,  from 1857 to

1947). The influence of India on African nationalism and the decolonisation process was determined by two great nationalists-, first Mahatma:  Gandhi and later Jawaharlal Nehru,

Reference Questions-

a) Examine the impact of India’s independence on the development of African nationalism

b)  Discuss the contribution of India to the decolonisation of Africa,

c)  Assess the role of Jawaharlal Nehru in the growth of African nationalism

1.  The anti-colonial tactics used by Mahatma Gandhi helped to shape the strategy of anti- colonial struggle in Africa. During the period of Indian independence struggle, Gandhi used the principles of Satyagraha (or passive resistance) through non-violent methods. African nationalists  and  (freedom  fighters)  like  Kwame  Nkrumah of The Gold  Coast,  Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika, Albert Luthuli of South Africa and Obafemi Awolowo of Nigeria adopted the policy of non-violence during the struggle against foreign domination. The non

-  violent methods   also known as  Gandhiism involved boycotts  on trade and colonial products,  strikes, demonstrations and sometimes disruption of traffic flow in towns by sitting in the middle of the roads. Gandhi himself encouraged Africans to adopt the non- violence spirit if their efforts of struggling for independence were to be rewarding.

2.  The activities of the Indian Congress Party (ICP) influenced African nationalists to form political movements. Many educated  Africans especially from West Africa began mobilizing themselves into associations to struggle for political freedoms. In 1920, during a conference of nationalists of British West Africa in Accra, Joseph Casely Hayford, of the Gold Coast led other nationalists from Gambia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone to. establish the National Congress of British West Africa, The congress was formed as a pressure group for demanding  political  reforms  from the  British  colonialists,' it  demanded  for more African representatives in the Legco voted by Africans themselves. Political organisations like the TANU of Tanganyika, the GPP of Gold Coast, the NCNC of Nigeria and the UNC of Uganda were all established due to inspiration of the ICP Nkrumah himself admired the ICP to the extent that he adopted the ICP cap as the symbol of his party, the CPP.

3.  Indian nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi inspired the struggle against racism in South Africa. The principles of Satyagraha (passive resistance) were begun by Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa where he lived before he was deported back to India by the Afrikaner leaders. Gandhi fought against racial injustices in South Africa and denial of equal opportunities to Africans Indians and coloureds. Gandhi began the strategy of strikes, protest marching, civil breach of unfair laws and demonstrations, as a means of attaining racial justice such methods were further promoted by Xuma, Albert Luthuli and continued by Nelson Mandela; Walter Sisulu Steve Biko and Mbeki. He wrote his popular publication "The Green Pamphlet" in 1896 while in South Africa. Through this book, Gandhi attacked racism and oppression of non-Europeans Prominent Pan Africanists like Kwame Nkrumah and DuBois paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi for starting the fight against racism in South Africa through non violence and non cooperation.

4.  Independent India provided massive moral and financial assistance to African nationalists which became useful in the course of the struggle for freedom in Africa. The Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru committed himself to the 'African cause by promising that, he will assist African to achieve their independence. He established an "African Fund" through which money grants were extended to freedom fighters through the Indian community in the respective African states.  Immediate beneficiaries were the East African colonies like Kenya. The Indian financial aid to African nationalist movements added a brick to the success story of African decolonization process.

5.  Independent India offered education scholarships to African students, which increased on the number of African elites that struggled for African independence. India's Nehru opened Indian Diversities and other institutions of higher learning to African students. East Africa was most blessed with a number of Kenyans and Ugandans attending Indian education. African students interacted with Indian students which shaped their political development. They also  got  exposed  to  Gandhi's  nationalist  activities. Kirunda  Kivejinja and  John Kakonge of Uganda studied from India. On his return to Uganda, John Kakonge became a founding nationalist of the Uganda people’s Congress and the first Secretary General of the party.

6.  India had direct impact on nationalism in the Gold Coast. In the late 1940's, Nkrumah encouraged his people to embrace the Indian independence movement which had enabled Indians  to  defeat  British colonial rule. Nkrumah customised Gandhiism  as  "Positive action." He adopted the use of newspapers by establishing the Accra Evening News and the Cape Coast News Daily, through which the people of the Gold Coast de-campaigned the exploitative British rule, Nkrumah also borrowed the used of education campaigns and constitutional means like non coperation with colonial government.

7.  The decolonisation of India laid the foundation for the collapse of British colonial Empire.

India and Pakistan formed the largest single British Empire and the most important of all British colonial territories,' hence granting her independence in 1947 was a shock to the whole world.  It showed British commitment to decolonisation in both Asia and Africa. "India and the British colonies in Africa shared anti-colonial sentiments of racial inequality, land grabbing and economic exploitation of native resources." India's independence therefore gave a ray of hope to Africans that decolonisation was inevitable. It was thus very impossible for the British colonial office to deny Africans independence after serving India.

8.  India's Jawaharlal Nehru served as a political counselor to African freedom fighters. Many African nationalists sought for political guidance from India after her independence. Upon granting independence to India, the British claimed that Africans were politically immature to receive independence. This forced Kwame Nkrumah of the Gold Coast, Abdel Nasser of Egypt, and Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, to consult with Jawaharlal Nehru to enhance their political development. In 1960, the Indian Prime Minister invited Uganda's Apollo Milton Obote to Bangalore India and coached  him on political leadership. Nehru maintained contact with Kenyatta and through exchanging letters and in 1948 he appointed Apa B. Pant as Indian High Commissioner to Nairobi whose duties included providing legal advice to nationalists in Kenya.

9.  Consequently, India militarised African nationalism. First, India provided military weapons to Kenya  during the Mau-Mau uprising, and later provided a military  solution against Portuguese  colonialism. In 1962,  Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru declared a military attack on the Portuguese presence by driving them out of Goa using Indian tanks and artillery. Africans in Guinea Bissau and Mozambique were inspired to declare war against Portuguese colonial rule in 1963 and 1964 respectively, just like Angola had done earlier  on  in  1961.  African  freedom  fighters  in  South Africa  and  Southern Rhodesia combined Gandhiism with Nehru's military approach during their struggle against white domination.

10. Independent India used her position in the UN-General Assembly to demand for immediate African decolonisation. India led a group of member countries who voted for an end to colonialism throughout the world. These members  of the United Nations came to be known as  Non-aligned countries. Since joining the  United Nations Organisation, India directed pressure  on different departments  of the body like the Decolonisation and the Committee Trusteeship Council. India's pressure to the Decolonisation Committee led to independence of Ghana while her influence on the Trusteeship Council enabled the timely decolonisation of Tanganyika and Italian Somaliland. India's voice in the United Nations therefore, became an important instrument against colonialism and racism.

11. In  1956,  the government of Jawaharlal  Nehru encouraged  the censorship  (banning)  of racist  films  against  the African race. The government ordered the Indian  Central  Film Board to deny license to all films which despised (abused) the image of the African person or race as primitive. Nehru's gesture (policy) was aimed at maintaining good relations with the people of African continent, and identifying with them in their trying moments as they struggled for independence. Some of the films banned or censored  in India included, African Adventure, Snows of Kilimanjaro, Below the Sahara and The African Queen, among others.

12. Independent India also influenced African nationalism through encouraging the principle of Non-Alignment or positive neutrality. One of the aims of Non-Alignment was- the immediate decolonisation of the continents of Asia and Africa. Jawaharlal Nehru advocated for positive neutrality of weaker nations mostly from Asia and Africa as a step towards political freedom and economic strength. Non-Alignment emphasised non- cooperation of its members with either the Western Capitalist or Eastern Communist powers. It also encouraged a wide distance between independent states  and their former colonial masters. India masterminded the first conference of Non-Aligned states  in the Indonesian city of Bandung. This conference  held in 1955 assured  Africans of Asian support and laid the foundation for the Afro-Asian solidarity (cooperation). The Bandung conference therefore represented  the beginning of the final phase of Africa's progress towards independence.

13. India took advantage of her position in the Commonwealth of Nations Organisation to put pressure on Britain and cause her to enforce total decolonisation in Africa. Soon after her independence, Jawaharlal Nehru the Indian Prime Minister influenced the British government to withdraw from the rest of British colonial territories of Asia and Africa. This eventually led to the independence of the British colonies in Africa like the Gold Coast (Ghana), Nigeria, Uganda, Tanganyika, Kenya and Nyasaland (Malawi).

14. India  sold  to Africa Gandhi's  policy  of using  Christianity  against  colonial  exploitation.

During the independence struggle of India, Mahatma Gandhi used Christianity and the Biblical teachings to condemn colonialism and agitate for equality and liberty which the British colonialists had denied to the Indians. The success of this strategy in India inspired African freedom fighters like Kenneth Kaunda of Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Bishop Sithole Ndabaningi of Southern Rhodesia and Arch-bishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa in their campaigns against white racism and colonialism.

15. Gandhi's personality also set a good example to the African nationalists. He was a very good leader and willing to sacrifice himself on behalf of his people, and for the sake of independence. As the leader of the independence movement in India, he inspired many African nationalists to borrow his trend of leadership against colonial rule. Examples of African leaders inspired by Gandhi's character  included Kwame Nkrumah of the Gold Coast, Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika and Nelson Mandela of South Africa among others. Mandela's refusal of freedom offered to him by apartheid dictator P.W. Botha in 1985 was in true sense  of a nationalist shaped by Gandhi's dedication to the national cause of his people.