Role of London School of Economics in Indian History

The London School of Economics is not merely a congested cluster of buildings in the heart of London. It has also produced leaders who have gone on to shape the lives of millions of people.

When India became independent, the LSE-educated Bhimrao Ambedkar wrote India’s constitution and later went on to champion the rights of untouchables. His bronze bust stands at the entrance of Clement House at LSE. Another figure from LSE who made a deep impact on post-partitioned India was Sardar Tarlok Singh. He was the Director General of Rehabilitation in the Punjab responsible for the resettlement of over ten million refugees. Making two key innovations, he made the biggest refugee resettlement operation a resounding success.

India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru chose Krishna Menon (from LSE) as a key advisor and India’s defence minister. Menon, who had earlier been India’s first Ambassador to the UK, helped shape the mindset of India that was suspicious of Pakistan but a supporter of socialism. In 1962, China’s victory in a war against an ill-prepared India forced Menon to resign.

Stepping into her father’s shoes in 1966, Indira Gandhi chose P.N. Haksar (also from the LSE) as her Chief Advisor. Haksar had earlier interned with Menon in London.

In an obituary to Menon, P.N. Haksar described how he met Krishna Menon:

I can recall in all its detail the day I met him. I recall the year. It was 1937. The month was November. It was lunch time. I was stepping out of London School of Economics. Next door to it, in the Houghton Street where the School was situated, was a small cafe run by a cheerful Italian. As I was turning towards it. I met Feroze Gandhi (also at the LSE who went on to marry Indira Gandhi). Feroze and I walked into Aldwych past a group of buildings called the Bush House, then on to the Strand, up a flight of dark stairs, we entered a room. There for the first time I saw Krishna Menon.

Under Haksar's strategy, Indira moved sharply to the left. She became the icon of hundreds of millions of India's poor, by adopting socialist economic policies. She eliminated the allocations to India's ex-royalty and nationalized the banking system. Haksar also sought to boost India’s military forces, which helped India win the war against Pakistan in 1971. Her landslide victory soon after was accredited to Haksar’s political and military strategy.

In recent years, India has had KR Narayanan as President in the 1990’s, who happened to study to LSE. IG Patel, ex-Governor of India’s Central Bank served as the Director of LSE from 1984-90. The IG Patel Chair was established in his honour at the LSE last year. In 1998, Amartya Sen was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in Development economics, much of which was done as a teacher at the LSE. The influence does not stop here. Many of the world's leading economists working on India are here at LSE, notably, Maitreesh Ghatak, Tim Besley, Robin Burgess, Lords Stern and Desai and several graduate students.

If a country’s history is decided by the institutions its policy makers went to, LSE can rightfully claim to have had the biggest hand in shaping modern India.