ACN Nambiar was a journalist and freedom fighter, and a close associate of Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose. For most of his life, Nambiar lived in Europe. In the early and mid 1920s, he wrote columns for The Hindu—for which he had earlier apprenticed—from Berlin. During his time in Germany, he came in contact with influential leftists such as MN Roy, the founder of the Communist Party of India, and Virendranath Chattopadhyay, commonly referred to as Chatto, an Indian revolutionary and nationalist. While in Europe, Nambiar often hosted Nehru and his daughter Indira, with whom he maintained a close friendship until her death in 1984. In 1942, Bose appointed formed the Free India Centre, a provisional branch of the under the Azad Hind movement, which worked to coordinate support from European leaders for the Indian movement for independence. Bose appointed Nambiar the head of the centre. After Independence, in 1951, Nambiar was appointed the first Indian ambassador to Germany. In 2014, the British government declassified several documents under its 30-year rule—documents from cabinet meetings are moved to the British national archives after 30 years. These documents alleged that, during his time in Europe, Nambiar was a Soviet spy.
Vappala Balanchandran, a former Indian intelligence officer and former special secretary to the government of India, met Nambiar in 1980. Balachandran was appointed to help the ageing Nambiar on the orders of the then prime minister Indira Gandhi, who was concerned about the well-being of her father’s close friend. Over the next few years, until Nambiar’s death in 1986, Balachandran spent time with Nambiar, caring for him and listening to the account of his life as a freedom fighter. In his book, A Life in Shadow, Balachandran recounts Nambiar’s life, through the latter’s accounts as well as letters and interviews with those who knew him. Balachandran writes, “There is no evidence found anywhere that Nambiar was an active asset for any agency.”
In the following extract from the book, Balachandran recounts Nambiar’s meeting with Nehru, in Paris, in 1938, which offers a glimpse into the relationship the two shared.
On 15 September 1938 Nambiar wrote to Nehru following the latter’s visit to the Sudeten region—the region had become much more tense following the visit. It would appear that Nehru had called him to Geneva but he was not able to go since he was shifting apartments in Prague. Nambiar wanted to know whether it would be convenient for him to meet him in October. He also refers to Nehru’s letter about Indira’s sudden illness (terming it “a breakdown”) while in Budapest and asks him whether he wanted him to make any new arrangements for her.
In the next letter dated 18 October 1938 from Prague Nambiar wrote to Nehru that it might so happen that they would not be able to meet. He speaks of his difficulties and depression, laying bare his poor state of finances. He thanks Nehru for his financial help and suggests to him to remit £15 to his London account where his balance is a “couple of pounds.” He adds finally that he would travel to Paris via Zurich to meet Nehru and Indira.
Subsequently, Nambiar travelled to Paris in 1938 to meet Nehru and Indira. Nehru often took a pedantic tone with Nambiar, suggesting that he needed to pick up his act. Immediately on Nambiar’s arrival at their hotel near the Chambre des Deputes (French Parliament)—he had had a long journey from Prague—Nehru asked him: “Have you seen Musee de L’Homme?” When he told him that he had not, Nehru asked him to visit and report back. Any amount of Nambiar’s protestations had no effect on Nehru. He insisted that Nambiar should visit the museum forthwith. Nambiar was furious with Nehru, but could not refuse him, so off he went. Prior to arriving in Paris, Nehru had visited the Munich Grand museum. Nambiar managed to lob one back at Nehru in his memoirs; in his inimitable dry style, he quipped that he had often thought that had India not been a colony engaged in her struggle for independence, Jawaharlal Nehru
… perhaps might have preferred the life of a museum director or head of an educational institution.
True to his nature of generosity, Nehru compensated Nambiar for his “ordeal” with a good French lunch with wine after his visit to Musee de L’Homme. Nehru also remarked how well the French ate. Nehru in those days was not opposed to mild alcoholic drinks and Nambiar recalled that a few years later Subhas Chandra Bose also told him the same thing about French restaurants. “In subsequent periods, sometimes, I thought of the changes in the attitudes of the two on the issue.”
During this lunch Nehru brought up his meeting with Andre Malraux in a French Café. Nehru was there alone. Malraux, who was seated not too far away, sent word through a bearer asking if he could meet Nehru. The conversation between the two, much to Nehru’s astonishment, began with Malraux’s question: “What is the force in Hinduism that kept Buddhism greatly out of India?” The question fascinated and perturbed Nehru. Nambiar says that that question provoked Nehru into writing his Discovery of India. This has been more or less corroborated by Jean La Couture in Andre Malraux and by Malraux himself in his Anti-Memoirs.
According to some accounts Nehru also had a secret meeting with the Nazi leadership during this trip in Munich. A report by Horst Pohle, a Nazi Lektor, to his superiors said that Nehru’s European trip was not doing the Nazis any favours; in fact, his writings for the National Herald, the Congress party mouthpiece started by Nehru in September 1938, seem to be working against their interests and causing them much damage. British Intelligence were keeping a track of Nehru’s movements during his trip and it appears that they did not report adversely to his secret meeting with the Nazis. What transpired during the meeting is not reported. It seems also that Nehru wished to both rehabilitate and employ Jewish experts to India; Bose was dead against this plan and advised Nehru that it was none of his business; to no avail.
There is nothing in Nambiar’s accounts that alludes to this meeting of Nehru’s with the Nazi leadership. Nambiar was to reveal later to his British interrogator that during this Paris visit Nehru had advised him “to remain in Prague for as long as possible, and on no account to go to Rome.”
This is an excerpt from A Life in Shadow: The Secret Story of ACN Nambiar, A Forgotten Anti-Colonial Hero, by Vappala Balachandran, published by Roli Books.