ABSTRACT
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit’s period of nearly seven years as Indian High Commissioner in Britain was divided, as by a steep watershed, by the events of 1956 which included the Suez crisis and the Hungarian revolt. Her period as High Commissioner both symbolized and typified the changed relationship between India and Britain which had followed Independence. At first Vijaya Lakshmi’s main task appeared to be that of creating a more enlightened understanding of India in Britain. ‘Even at the height of British imperialism,’ she said in an address to the Royal Central Asian Society in 1961, ‘there were elements in Britain whose liberal ideas kept public opinion informed and ultimately influenced Government policies’. In presenting Vijaya Lakshmi the Public Orator, Sir Ifor Evans, described her work as High Commissioner as a symbol of the forgiveness and reconciliation which united India and Britain after Independence.
