Jan Smuts and the Indian Question, by Vineet Thakur

Abstract

There is no shortage of literature concerning Jan Smuts, and in recent years there has been a small but significant resurgence in his historiography. However, there have been few new discussions that have come to the fore with this resurgence. Thus it is refreshing when literature emerges that does take on a new and more focused angle. This is what Jan Smuts and the Indian Question by Vineet Thakur does. The focus of the book is on the mostly forgotten political battles between Jan Smuts and a string of highly skilled Indian diplomats. Their main aim was to change the racial discrimination to which Indians living in the Union of South Africa were subjected. It was within these political duels that the Indian diplomats were able to outfox the cunning Smuts by using his own words and philosophies against him. These political tussles took place in two stages, the tail end of the First World War/interwar period and post-Second World War, which presented two very different world orders. Jan Smuts and the Indian Question forms volume 2 of Off-Centre: New Perspectives on Public Issues, a “book series focused on the social, political and cultural life of South Africa and the southern African region” (frontmatter).