Ripples of fear reached India as Palestinians revolted against the British in the 1930s

In the spring of 1936, as Palestinians rebelled against British rule and its pro-Zionist policies in what was then called Mandatory Palestine, a wave of fear rippled through the colonial administration in India: what if the violence in West Asia singed the Indian subcontinent?

“There is a possibility that during the present disturbed state of affairs in Palestine, Palestinian Arabs or their sympathisers belonging to other Arab [states] may try to come to India and attempt to arouse sympathy by personal propaganda among Indian Muslims,” the Intelligence Bureau said in a secret memo dated June 30, 1936 to top police officers across India. “It is therefore requested that arrangements may kindly be made to keep a look-out for this and to report to this office anything of interest that may come to notice in this connection.”

In response, police officers from places such as Allahabad, Bombay, Bihar, Peshawar and Tellicherry reported about the observance of “Palestine Day” on June 19, when political leaders in these cities tried to galvanise Muslim crowds but to little success.

More than the Muslim masses, it was the politicians in India who championed the Palestinian cause in the 1930s. “The Indian Muslim elite – of which many claimed descent from various…

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