Is a man a hero or a villain? Is he a demi-god or the devil? Often the alternatives used to describe a human being are not so diametrically opposed to each other. When it comes to Churchill, however, everything has to be larger than life. Rather like his obviously bulky figure.
No, this is not body shaming. It is stating a fact, many would say. That is because Churchill was a contradiction within a contrast within a conundrum. Intensely hated and deeply adored, Churchill is an interesting figure of the twentieth century.
For the British, he is a hero, given his much valorised bulldog spirit that helped him overcome every possible hurdle in the British path to victory in the World War II. It was his leadership and his powerful oratory that turned the war around.
His career is full of many contrasts and contradictions. He was a Conservative, who in between turned to liberalism, for example. He was a hard-hitting politician who was an impressionist painter of sorts.
Why, this politician, this Prime Minister who changed the destiny of Britain in extremely difficult, tough times was so much an accomplished author that he got a Nobel Prize, nay, not for peace, but for literature!
Yes, he spoke well, and most effectively. His words about the British, for the British, and within the British psyche helped the British win an impressive victory. Despite winning acclaim internationally for his leadership, immediately after the war, he lost an important election to Atlee of all the people.
For us, Indians, he is hypocrisy and cruelty personified. Heartless was his treatment of the "natives" in general, especially during the famine that helped him fleece the poor Indians whose back was literally broken. This "man of letters" was meanness personified when it came to letting millions of Indians die of starving! Hence the first line of our blog today. Who is he? A hero? The worst villain? Depends! Especially on the context, right?
Pratima@ Remember his "give me " speech that helped England win ? That is the power of words!
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