Book Review: Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit

Personal is Political !

Any Biographical writing on Women or Autobiographical writing of Women need to be understood within the enmeshed relations of Patriarchal power. Now, analysing this in the background of India, where Shastric injunctions that denied education to the women and hence the consequences in the form of loss of wisdom, morals, development, wealth and ultimate disaster for them. This was brilliantly exposed by Mahatma Phule via his writings and movement in Maharashtra for the first time.

This shudraisation of women has been normal in the context of the history of India. What happens when women are armed with Education, there is acquisition of wisdom, morals become the chariot on which she embarks on the quest for progress, she is conscious of her exclusions in the realm of economy- especially property and thus challenges the hegemony questioning the origins of discourse, this rare combination's fruit is the person called Madame Pandit. Scholar Manu Bhagavan has given us a brilliant treatise on Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit in biographical form in these times of melancholy. She had been reduced as a footnote in history of India, conspicuous of her absence in all liberal historiographies except some few written by feminist historiographers. Bhagavan tries to fill in the loopholes of these historiographies. And I must say as a student of gender and law, he shines brilliantly in his mammoth task.

The book takes us through the life and times of Vijayalakshmi Pandit, fondly called Nan by her family, to her journey of becoming Madame Pandit. It details her journey of holding onto herself, her own intellect, her own persona - a result of a carefully inculcated value system by rigorous reading, writing, experiences and thought process though being surrounded by stalwarts instrumental in formulation of the core idea of India. Nan herself becomes one of the chief architects of that idea and takes that idea successfully to the entire world. The book, meticulously researched, is thick with rich details giving us new insights into the independence movement.

But the parts that appealed to me the most and that break the myth of ancient societal constructs about the low intellect of a woman are shattered to pieces when looking at Madame Pandit's journey on the world panorama. From her active participation in All India Women's Conference, her being the first woman in the cabinet in United Provinces, Entering the Constituent Assembly, to her instrumentality in crafting the Atlantic charter- foundation of the United Nations, Madame Pandit is simply brilliant. Her empathy and dedication to the people's cause is seen in her rigorous work during the Bengal Famine and the painful experiences garnered leads her later to make a Wheat-Tea deal with the USSR and Wheat deal with the USA to solve the issue of food crisis using her international fame.

The part that excited me to read more is her work on the international platform. The way she sweeps audiences by their feet using her wit and oratory skills, international personalities attending her talks and her business not as usual approach makes Eleanor Roosevelt say that she was the most remarkable woman she had met. Madame Pandit just can't be confined to territory as her heart beats for humanism. The efforts taken by her on behalf of India to denounce the racism, apartheid regime in South Africa, especially her debate with General Smuts where she upholds the tenets of Justice, Public law and Morality is brilliantly painted. Her leadership of the Indian delegation to the UN is to be read by every person around the world who has an interest to know what idea of India originally stands for. Her key role in crafting of Paris Protocol for International Drug control, Convention against Genocide, Convention against torture, fighting for the rights of African- Americans, institution of resolutions no. 181, 182 and her adherence to neutrality when she assumed the presidency of the United General Assembly is to be grasped by all. Her transparency, integrity, passion, perseverance with a firm belief in core human values going beyond parochialism makes her the First Lady of the World, that's how she is referred to ! Infact

For India she becomes the first ambassador to the USSR, then to USA and Mexico, to the United Kingdom where she forms a bond with Winston Churchill - a tough nut to crack and lastly, Spain is a lesson for all the students of Foreign Policy. In Fact these very years form the base of India's foreign policy, Non-Alignment movement. Reading these micro events gives a rich etymological details of the evolution and the nature of India's Foreign Policy. There are rich lessons to understand India's stance during the Israel-Palestine issue where, India proposed a federalised, binational solution rather than the accepted two state solution. The masterfully crafted stances of India in the Korean crisis and its handling of the Hungarian crisis, Suez canal crisis helps us to plug a lot of loopholes that were earlier left.

In spite of her overachievements all over the world she returns to India and later to uphold the foundational values of India jumps into the fray of Indian politics by becoming again the Member of Parliament. Her adherence to core principles of secularism, egalitarianism and democracy is seen when she stands against her beloved Indira Gandhi thus showing blood relations, personal relationships are to be subordinated when Nation and its principles are at stake. This rich and meticulously researched biography is must read in today's times when our India's own foundational values of Constitutional Morality, Pluralism and Multiculturalism are at stake with a newly uniformised, leviathan idea of India being forced upon ! This book should be made to read to understand true history rather than reading masqueraded myths as history.