I think it was the late Deshbandhu C.R. Das, who first opened my eyes to the necessity of making India known in other countries. The occasion for this was the drafting of a new scheme of work for the Swaraj Party which the late Deshbandhu and the late Pandit Motilal Nehru launched at Allahabad in February, 1923. Discussions regarding the new scheme of work had begun as early as April, 1922, when we were all in prison. There were two items in the Deshbandhu's schemes on which he was personally very keen, but which did not evoke much enthusiasm at the time, because public attention was drawn towards the capture of legislatures and local bodies. These two items were — Indian propaganda in foreign countries and the organisation of a pan-Asiatic League.

Several years elapsed before my interest in the question of Indian propaganda abroad was once again stirred up. Early in 1928, when I was in Calcutta I was interviewed by an American journalist (I forget his name at the moment). In the course of our conversation he described in vivid colours how China had managed to capture the imagination of the whole civilized world. According to him, India should also contrive to put herself before the world's eye. How that could be done, was a question of method for Indians to decide but the need was an imperative one in India's own interest.

Two other factors have helped to deepen my conviction that Indian propaganda abroad is absolutely necessary for India's progress — (1) my experiences in Europe during the last two years and (2) my study of History. During the last two years I have travelled through many countries in Europe. Everywhere there is a colossal ignorance about India — but at the same time there is a general feeling of sympathy for, and interest in, India. This sympathy can easily be enlarged and developed, if necessary steps are taken from our side. But while we are quite indifferent to this question, missionaries and other 'civilizing agencies' are not inactive. For several decades they have painted India as a land where widows are burnt, girls are married at the age of 5 or 6 and people are virtually unacquainted with the art of dressing. I remember vividly that when I was in England in 1920, I was one day passing a lecture-hall in front of which there was a pictorial advertisement of a lecture to be delivered by a missionary about India. In that advertisement, there were pictures of some half-naked men and women of the blackest complexion, possessing the ugliest features. Ostensibly the lecturer wanted to raise funds for his 'civilizing' work in India and was therefore painting India in this light, without the slightest compunction. Towards the end of 1933, a German journalist who claimed to have visited India recently, wrote in a Munich paper that she had seen widows being burnt in India and dead bodies lying uncared for in the streets of Bombay. Recently in a Vienna pictorial paper (Wiener Bilder, dated the 30th June) a picture of a dead body covered with insects was printed and there was a footnote saying that it was the corpse of a 'Sadhu' which could not be removed for several days because of the Hindu belief that the dead body of a 'Sadhu' should not be removed by ordinary men. What surprises me is the careful selection of pictures about India made by propagandists in Europe with a view to depicting India in the worst colours possible. This is as much true of pictorial magazines as of films. Regarding the anti-Indian propaganda conducted by films like 'India Speaks' and 'Bengali' — there has been some exposure in India already and I need not dilate on it. But I am afraid there has not been sufficient exposure of the mischief which is being done by the film 'Everybody Loves Music,' in which Mahatma Gandhi appears in his own dress, dancing with a European girl.

If this sort of propaganda goes on in other countries, is it to be wondered at that Indians should be called 'Blackie' — as it happens sometimes in England — or as 'Neger' (negro) — as is the experience sometimes in Germany? In such circumstances, what should be our reaction? The first and easier course would be to shut our eyes. The other and more difficult course would be to start our own propaganda. I remember talking to a Turkish diplomat in 1933 on the question of foreign propaganda. I complained that there was no literature on modern Turkey meant for foreigners, written by Turks themselves. By way of self-defence, he said, that the Turks did not believe in propaganda (this is not wholly true because the Turks also are beginning their propaganda). I doubt if any other country in this age of propaganda, would have attempted to justify its lack of propaganda. In any case, so far as Europe is concerned, propaganda is now regarded as one of the normal and legitimate activities of a Government. Of the European countries, England and Russia are past-masters in the art of propaganda — with Italy and Germany coming next. Of the Asiatic countries, China is at present most active in her foreign propaganda. The New World has generally been indifferent to propaganda in the Old World — but I believe that the League of Nations is now helping to bridge the Atlantic Ocean. In 1934, when I was in Geneva, I happened to come into touch with a number of South Americans and I realized that even the South American States were anxious to carry on propaganda in Europe.

Even independent countries that have no national grievance devote much attention and money to foreign propaganda. They generally have a twofold aim, cultural and commercial. They desire, on the one hand, to make their culture known to other countries and on the other to develop more trade with them. The propaganda conducted by the British is, in my opinion, more effective than that of other countries, because it is more natural and scientific. The British method of propaganda is roughly as follows:

1. News agencies like * * * carry on a subtle propaganda in favour of Great Britain through the manipulation of everyday news.
2. Britishers make it a point to attend every International Congress which is held in any part of the world.
3. In every country, special societies exist for developing friendly relations with that country. For example, in Vienna there is a Society called the Anglo-Austrian Friends. Similar organizations exist in every country in Europe and America and all these Societies have corresponding organizations in Great Britain.
4. A large number of Britishers representing different walks of life go abroad every year to lecture on different aspects of British culture. In this work, British artists play an important role.
5. Foreigners and foreign students are invited to visit Great Britain. In some cases foreign students are given scholarships.
6. There are numerous international Societies like the Quakers, the All-Peoples Association, etc., which have their headquarters in London and branches all over Europe — through whose medium a very subtle propaganda is carried on in favour of Great Britain. These Societies generally have a stock of English books in their libraries.
7. In almost every important city of Europe there is an English-speaking Club. These clubs are invariably centres of propaganda.
8. Books, etc., about Great Britain are published in every language.

The above propaganda is carried on mostly by non-official agencies, in addition to the official propaganda conducted through Embassies and Consulates. British propaganda is not obtrusive and people for whom it is meant, hardly realize that a conscious propaganda is going on. Where it is more overt as in the case of Miss Mayo's 'Mother India' or the film 'Bengali' — it is conducted through the medium of a third party, so that no one can say that Britishers are behind it. As compared with this, German propaganda is crude and obtrusive and it therefore sometimes defeats its own purpose.

“Now France and Italy each budget one million pounds a year for national ‘propaganda and prestige’. Japan has recently budgeted one hundred thousand pounds for similar purposes during the coming year and the vast resources of the German Ministry of propaganda are being expended outside the Reich no less than within. Funds on a much larger scale than £ 6,000, though not necessarily Government funds, are necessary if we are to take similar interest in making ourselves known.”

Coming to India, the question is — what should we do? I am sorry to say in this connection that among the older generation I find a complete lack of appreciation of the utility of Indian propaganda abroad. The opinion expressed by Mr Bhulabhai Desai and the Editor of Indian Social Reformer are typical of what the older generation think. The views of the Congress President, Sjt. Rajendra Prasad, are somewhat more progressive. He welcomes such propaganda, but regrets that the Congress does not possess sufficient means to undertake this work. One is, therefore, left with the feeling that the older generation regard this work as a superfluous luxury and not as an indispensable necessity. If they had regarded it as a necessity, they would certainly have procured funds for it.

Of the Indian leaders, the late Sjt. Vithalbhai Patel was the only one who had a full appreciation of the utility of foreign propaganda and a clear conception as to how it should be carried on. It is no exaggeration to say that in the cause of this propaganda he laid down his precious life. It was his American tour, in the course of which he delivered 85 speeches, in three months, that damaged beyond repair his already broken health. At the end of this campaign and after mature deliberation with American Friends of India, he returned with the conviction that the Indian National Congress should have a permanent representative in the United States. This suggestion was duly conveyed to Mahatma Gandhi. The late Sjt. Vithalbhai was of opinion that for our propaganda work, we should have our headquarters in Geneva with branches all over Europe and America. One such branch he was able to start during his lifetime in Dublin, under the name of the Indo-Irish League. His journey to Geneva about a month before his sad and premature death, was for the purpose of preparing the ground for a centre there — but fate prevented him from accomplishing this work.

If foreign propaganda be necessary for independent countries as well as for those who fight for their freedom with arms — it is an absolute necessity for countries like India that have discarded the method of physical force and armed revolution. To such a peaceful and constitutional activity, the British Government, too, can have no objection. We have every right to mobilize world-sympathy on our side in an open and peaceful manner and the British Government have indirectly recognized this right by sponsoring India's membership of the League of Nations, which implies that India has all the rights of a full-fledged nation.

In my opinion, Indian propaganda abroad should have the following objectives:

1. To counteract false propaganda about India.
2. To enlighten the world about the true conditions obtaining in India today.
3. To acquaint the world with the positive achievements of the Indian people in every sphere of human activity.

The last objective is the most important, because if we can give the world a good idea of our culture and civilization, we shall automatically dispel false notions regarding the Indian people, raise the status of India in the eyes of the civilized world and obtain sympathy everywhere.

1. Indians should be induced to attend every International Congress.
2. Articles about India should be written in foreign newspapers and journals.
3. Books about India should be published in the different languages of Europe and America.
4. There should be at least one well-equipped library in some central place in Europe to which reference could be made by all those who are interested in India.
5. Prominent Indians representing different aspects of Indian culture should regularly travel abroad.
6. Films about India should be exhibited abroad.
7. Lectures on India with the help of magic lantern slides should be organized in foreign countries.
8. Foreign scholars should be invited to India and they should be helped to make contact with the best type of Indians.
9. In every country, mixed Societies of Indians and nationals of that country, should be organized for developing closer cultural relations with India. Every such Society should have a corresponding organization in India. An instance of the first is the Indo-Czechoslovakian Society.
10. Such mixed Societies should also be formed everywhere for fostering closer commercial relations between India and other countries. (An instance of this is the Indian-Central European Society of Vienna.) Corresponding organizations should be started in India.
11. Mixed Chambers of Commerce (e.g., Indo-Czecho-Slovak Chamber of Commerce, Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce, Indo-Austrian Chamber of commerce, etc.) should be organized in every important Capital. Corresponding Chambers of Commerce should be started in India. Such mixed Chambers of Commerce exist in every European country. India alone has not yet realized the importance of this.
12. Regular assistance should be given to such bodies as the international Committee for India in Geneva which have so far been working independently. There are several or­ganizations of this sort in Europe and America. Some sort of co-ordination should be established among such Societies.

The impression that has been created in many circles all over the world as a result of prolonged hostile propaganda is that we are an uncivilized people — that our women are enslaved and that we are not a nation, as our Society is seething with dissensions. Can we shut ourselves up in a room and remain indifferent to what the world thinks of us? We cannot. For good or for ill, we are forced by modern circumstances to share the common life of humanity. We cannot therefore be indifferent to what the outside world thinks of us. Moreover, we can see with our own eyes what other nations are achieving through a course of systematic propaganda. History further teaches us that for enslaved and suppressed nations — especially for those that eschew the path of violence — the sympathy of the civilized world is absolutely necessary and in order to win that sympathy, propaganda has to be undertaken. Distinguished Indians, like Swami Vivekananda, Dr Rabindra Nath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi have in the past done a certain amount of propaganda abroad and their work has been supplemented by foreign friends of India. As a result of this, India still has a reputation for an ancient culture and civilization. But if we are to make further progress, it is indispensably necessary that a systematic propaganda, backed by the Indian people, should be undertaken. There are Indians abroad who are determined to do this work with the limited resources at their disposal. The only question is whether the Indian National Congress will take charge of this all-important work and do it in a more effective and efficient manner.