contacts were not confi ned to Gandhi, Nehru, and other se nior Congress
Party leaders alone but encompassed the leaders of Hindu, Muslim, and
Jewish communities in India. They cultivated and befriended academic
associations and institutions, Indian offi cials serving under the British
Raj, infl uential personalities in various princely states, individuals who
subsequently became pioneering diplomats of free India, and various
other subaltern elements through public meetings and contacts.
Such diverse activities run counter to the pop u lar notion put forth by
Indian writers such as Jansen and echoed by Shimoni.^78 The earliest
known Zionist contacts with Nehru could probably be traced to the
Brussels Conference of Oppressed Nationalities in 1927.^79 In April 1930,
Gershon Agronsk y visited Bombay on behalf of the Jewish Agency Execu-
tive.^80 Olsvanger came to India in 1936, as an offi cial emissary of the Jew-
ish Agency. His mandate was to establish formal links with various In-
dian leaders and to seek a sympathetic understanding of the Jewish
national aspirations in Palestine. Even though he failed to elicit a favor-
able Indian opinion, he managed to forge personal ties with Nehru that
continued long after the formation of Israel.^81 Likewise, Weizmann, who
was instrumental in the Balfour Declaration, met Nehru on July 20, 1938,
when the INC leader was in London, and subsequently corresponded
with him.^82
During his six- month stay, Olsvanger met and interacted with a host
of other Indian leaders, including Sarojini Naidu,^83 Sardar Patel,^84 B. R.
Ambedkar,^85 G. B. Pant,^86 Tagore, and C. F. Andrews.^87 While Sarojini
Naidu^88 and Ambedkar^89 came out in support of Zionist aspirations in
Palestine, others were more cautious. Tagore, for example, was sympa-
thetic to their cause but clarifi ed that his view was “a purely personal one
and not meant for newspaper publication.”^90 This private warmth and
public caution was due to the prevailing pro- Arab position of the Congress
Party. The Zionists were successful in convincing many INC leaders to
accept their invitation for personal visits to Palestine for a fi rst- hand as-
sessment. Among others, Sarojini Naidu, Andrews,^91 and S. Radhakrish-
nan^92 agreed to visit Palestine. None of these planned visits materialized.
The commencement of World War II and consequent incarceration of
Indian nationalists prevented them.
While looking to the Congress Party and its leadership for po liti cal
support, the Zionists were conscious of the need to cultivate a pop u lar
support base in India. This became essential in the light of the indiff er-
ent and unsympathetic positions adopted by se nior INC leaders, espe-
62 the congress party and the yishuv