What were Churchill's views on India?

Background:

• Churchill had served in India as a young officer.
• He took the late-Victorian view that India was 'the jewel in the crown' of the whole British Empire and that it had to be protected, no matter what, in order to maintain the empire.
• Churchill took it for granted that Britain's greatness was bound up with its imperial status.
• He also took the view, common among those who had served and working in India, that British rule alone prevented the domination of the Hindu elites over the large numbers of India muslims.
• British rule had ensured the end of what he saw as barbaric practices and meant economic and social progress. He thought it had ensured good government, prevented endemic corruption and protected the weak.
• He also had a strong belief in the racial superiority of the Anglo-Saxons and in their destiny to rule over and develop lesser peoples.

British rule in India

British rule in India was coming under increasing pressure in the 1920s and 30s from an Indian population who wanted self-governance and representation. This pressure came from both the educated elite and increasingly from the mass populace led by Ghandi.

Dressing like a poor peasant, Ghandi developed satyagraha, meaning holding onto truth'. This led him to the pursuit of freedom by non-violent protest. Britain responded to the unrest which these protesters caused with a mixture of repression and reform. 

The Rowlatt Acts of 1919 increased police powers by allowing imprisonment without trial but the 1919 Mantagu-Chelmsford measures gave locally elected council a measure of control over some internal matters.

In April 1919 Ghandi led a mass campaign against the Rowlatt Acts and troops fired on a protesting crowd at Amritsar, killing 400 and wounding 1200. This brutally gave Indian nationalism huge…