Chapter 216 The Public Relations Crisis

With Donald Maclean’s actions in Ceylon, his deeds spread from Ceylon to India itself, of course this was fueled by certain people who portrayed the image of Donald Maclean’s bravery and courage.

The thing is simple, heroes who like to be heroes, British Indian civil servants are not interested in being heroes, only interested in money.

And among the Hindu temples, those who can communicate with the wives of the gods are certainly not low-caste people, and those who can be senior monks or elders are certainly all Brahmins.

These Brahmins are not all rich, but their status in the Hindu system is there.

Although the Supreme Court did not want to make a big fuss, just hope to find an opportunity to get money. But even so, this is also the thing that offends people, offend the Brahmin class.

Therefore, both Clark and Alan Wilson believe that this matter is best to have nothing to do with the Viceroyalty of British India, at least not on the surface, but to let the storm in Ceylon blowing to British India, and then give the Brahmin elders in the temple a chance to punish themselves with three cups of wine, the judicial officials to make enough money, this matter will be over.

The rest of the matter has nothing to do with British India, the main purpose of making a documentary movie, in fact, is not for the Indians to see. The documentary movie produced by the BBC in later times was eventually banned by the Indian government as well.

The main purpose of the movie was actually for the other British colonies, to incite condemnation or at least contempt for Hinduism and people of Indian origin, and to curb the expansion of Indian influence in the other colonies.

It is important to look at things through a developmental lens, and in any case, India in this era is indeed too much more powerful hardware-wise than China, which was scourged enough by the Changgong, and once the subcontinent is out of the hands of the British Empire, it might just cause a demonstration effect.

You know, India inherited most of the British power and territory in South Asia after independence, is the largest country in the subcontinent, the world’s second most populous country, the arable land area of the world ranked second, coal and iron and other resources in the world.

At the same time, as the most important British colony, India has a strong industrial base, India’s steel, textile and other industries are very developed, India’s industrial output in Asia is second to none, now that Japan has been destroyed, India can be called the first industrial power in Asia.

India’s steel production was ten times that of the country led by Chang Gong, and the number of workers was six times that of his, and its economy was twice as large.

Then later, India joined with Indonesia, Egypt and other countries to launch the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), an organization in which most of the developing countries of the world have joined. As the initiator, India has taken itself to be the boss of the Non-Aligned Movement and considers itself the leader of the Third World.

Weakening India, Alan Wilson regardless of the usefulness of the approach, useful or not, simply do not care, think of what will be practiced, come up with a hundred ways, even if it works ten will do.

Of course this premise is to establish the British Empire can benefit on the basis of, if Britain can not benefit, he is not going to India how, and weakening Hinduism will allow the British Empire to benefit, the most direct point, Malaya also has a Tamil community.

In Alan Wilson’s vision, it was enough for British Malaya to have two communities, and there was no need to play a game of threesome, so the Tamil community of Indian origin, had no role to play in British Malaya.

For this reason, the Indian saintly women community, true to the principle of openness and fairness, appeared in the British home newspapers. The Secretary of State for India, Lord Pethick Lawrence had just stepped on the soil of the homeland when he witnessed the news about the Hindu saints that had swept the homeland.

Citizens of the old imperialism knew only that British India was an important colony of the British Empire, but had no idea that such an outrageous custom still existed there, and that Lord Pethick-Lawrence had long prided himself on safeguarding the rights of women.

And Lord Pethick-Lawrence is now the Secretary of State for India, a minister who has long presented himself as the face of safeguarding women’s rights and interests, and the British India under his administration has seen such appalling things happen, and Lord Pethick-Lawrence, who has just returned to the mainland, and who has not yet met with the Prime Minister to take credit for his work, is first faced with a public relations crisis almost close at hand.

It was very much a PR crisis that hurt his persona, and he was still floating at sea when it happened.

He was tempted to explain that British Ceylon was not British India, but on second thought British Ceylon was a royal domain, which would have been a shirking of responsibility, and the religion was called Hinduism, which was hardly unrelated to British India.

Still, as a politician facing a raging PR crisis, Pethick Lawrence found a solution to the crisis in his own defense from the newspaper that had expressed appreciation for Donald Maclean.

Immediately, Percek Lawrence was interviewed on the radio by the BBC, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and the presenter, Norman Baker, interviewed Percek Lawrence exclusively on behalf of the BBC.

Norman Baker was actually very much looking forward to this interview, in the last year British India has suddenly appeared in the public eye, of course in a negative light, and unbeknownst to the citizens of London, curiosity about this jewel of the empire has risen with the increase in coverage.

It is now well known that Lord Pethick Lawrence, the Minister for India, has only just returned from British India, and it is believed that this radio visit will surely arouse the curiosity of many London citizens.

The interview had just begun when Norman, in a very unfriendly tone, asked Pethick-Lawrence what he thought of the present public opinion about British India, especially now from the point of view of the Secretary of State for India.

“Oh, Norman, on this subject I am not only informed, but it is I who have led the way.” Pethick Lawrence spoke in a very spirited statesmanlike tone, “It is well known that I have long been on the home front, advocating the safeguarding of women’s rights, and am not really very well informed about things in British India. It is also this time that I have personally traveled to British India.”

Speaking of this Pethick Lawrence at once remembered his trip to the Ganges, and that revolting feeling came back, and with a serious face he said, “It must be said that the colonial experience was not a very good one, and in order to get to know the real jewel of the empire, as well as to take a curious view of much of the negative news about British India, I made the visit myself. ”

“Oh, the Minister’s inquisitiveness is truly astounding.” Norman Baker nodded his head in appreciation of Pethick Lawrence’s behavior, then asked, “What were the final results?”

“The results are very worrying, and I must painfully admit that the reports about India are true, and I have seen with my own eyes the scene on the banks of the Ganges, which is, I am sorry to say, hardly descriptive.” The look on Pethick Lawrence’s face was not a disguise at all, he did think of the nightmarish experience again.

It took a few seconds for Pethick-Lawrence to stabilize his mind and turn to express his appreciation for the work of the local civil servants who had been working for a long time to help the backward peoples to enter the modern civilization under harsh conditions.

And many of the barbaric behaviors in British India were real, and as the Minister of Indian Affairs he could not turn a blind eye to them.

“In that case, the Minister already knows the local situation very well. What about the existence of religious holy women groups?” Norman Baker did not let Pethick Lawrence off the hook so easily, but inquired about the Hindu holy women’s community that had already caused an explosion of public opinion.

“In my opinion, women’s rights should certainly be protected, and that’s what I’ve always done.” Percek Lawrence, who had been prepared for this, had by now fully adapted to the other party’s questioning, talked extensively about the contributions he had made in the field of safeguarding women’s rights and interests over the years, and then turned his words around and said, “Norman, there is poverty and backwardness in this world, and not everywhere is bathed in the light of civilization.”

“With regard to the community of Hindu saints, ever since I came to know about the existence of this community, I could not face up to myself as the Minister for India, and I was thinking, I should always do something, right? I can’t allow this criminal behavior, to exist in the territory of the British Empire, and for that reason I am firmly expressing myself. In fact, many people are still very skeptical, but it will not deter me from doing so.”

“So, Commissioner Maclean’s action is very much supported by the Minister?” Norman Baker heard and understood, but pressed on, “I wonder what the minister’s assessment is of the actions up to this point.”

“I have no comment on the action that I have led the introduction of, except that I am ready to meet all the consequences.” Pesik Lawrence leaned against the backrest of his chair, crossed his fingers, and said with a solemn expression on his face, “As for Commissioner McLean’s actions, all I can say is that it reflects the professionalism and ethical standards of the Empire’s civil servants, and deserves to be appreciated. It is an example of the Empire’s professional team!”

“I believe that today’s visit was able to answer the doubts in the minds of many citizens, as well as provide a deeper understanding of the Minister himself, and I thank him for accepting our radio interview.”

At the end of the visit, Norman Baker expressed his gratitude to Pethick Lawrence and asked offhandedly, “Minister, the visit is over, and there are many pointed questions that I have not asked, such as as as a minister, did you acquiesce to the occurrence of all the backward customs in British India.”

“Certainly not.” Pethick Lawrence glanced at the microphone, and as long as he was in the studio, whether the visit was over or not, he had to assume that the microphone was on and the recording equipment was running.

The next morning, the BBC aired the visit of the Minister for India, Pethik Lawrence, answering questions around the citizens of the country, in which Pethik Lawrence’s courageous statements made many citizens very happy.

This interview makes the image of Percek Lawrence, together with Donald McLean, become a positive image of the citizens by word of mouth, a public relations crisis disappeared into thin air.

“Our minister, but very supportive of the current action, since this is the minister’s advocate, we have to implement it without hesitation, I believe that the judicial side is ready.” Sir Barron put down the newspaper, with a smug look on his face, “I know, everyone is a bit anxious.”