Due to opposition from various quarters, however, “a large- scale emigra-
tion of the Jews to India could not be achieved.”^36
The British policy of declaring German Jewish refugees as “enemy
aliens” infuriated Nehru, who bitterly remarked, “it will become more
and more diffi cult for [Jewish refugees] to come, as the diffi culties placed
in their way by the British government are very great.”^37 Some argue that
the pro- Palestinian policy of the Congress Party “encouraged the British
to insist that each Jewish refugee have a guaranteed job before being al-
lowed entry into India.”^38 Despite the hurdles and diffi culties, a number
of refugees came to India, and Nehru pleaded for and facilitated their
absorption into various provincial governments. Some prominent per-
sonalities, such as the communist leader M. N. Roy and the future diplo-
mats B. Shiva Rao and R. K. Nehru (also a distant cousin of Jawaharlal
Nehru), were married to Jewish refugees from Eu rope.^39
Nehru, however, faced a serious challenge from the Congress Party.
Keeping the unfolding Jewish tragedy in mind, he sponsored a resolution
in the CWC. This most likely happened at the Wardha session in Decem-
ber 1938, following his return from Eu rope. The draft resolution read:
“The Committee sees no objection to the employment in India of such
Jewish refugees as are experts and specialists and who can fi t in with the
new order in India and accept Indian standards.”^40 This was not accept-
able to the CWC and especially to Subhas Bose, the INC president, and
was rejected. Commenting on his failure, Nehru felt that Bose “did not
approve of any step being taken by the Congress which was anti- Japanese
or anti- German or anti- Italian. And yet such was the feeling in Congress
and the country that he did not oppose this or many other manifestations
of Congress sympathy for China and the victims of Fascist and Nazi
aggression.”^41
Nehru had just returned from a Eu ro pe an tour, where he had received
fi rst- hand experience on the plight of Jews. What motivated him to seek
such a resolution? In his April 1939 letter to Bose, Nehru clarifi ed his
stance:
I felt that we must express our opinion in regard to it [that is, the po-
grom]. You say that you were “astounded when I produced a resolu-
tion seeking to make India an asylum for the Jews.” I am surprised
to learn that you felt so strongly about this as, so far as I remember,
you did not express yourself defi nitely at the time. But is it fair to
characterize my resolution as one seeking to establish an asylum forthe congress party and the yishuv 51