Is Winston Churchill a racist?

Today, I got a interesting Facebook forward on the role of British in the infamous 'Bengal Famine'. It had some quotes of Winston Churchill.

Some of his quotes on India  in the article are :

I hate Indians. They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.

- In conversation to Leo Amery, Secretary of State for India. This quotation is widely cited as written in "a letter to Leo Amery"

Indians 'Breed like Rabbits'.

The above comments were disturbing to me and that made me to wonder whether 'Winston Churchill is a racist’? 

I was trying hard to not judge  him by the above quotes alone, because  politicians are often mis-quoted. I continued to read bit more over the Internet about Churchill, I came across the following quotes:
It is alarming and nauseating to see Mr Gandhi, a seditious Middle Temple lawyer, now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the east, striding half naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organising and conducting a campaign of civil disobedience, to parlay on equal terms with the representative of the Emperor-King.

-          Commenting on Gandhi's meeting with the Viceroy of India, 1931

I do not admit... that a great wrong has been done to the Red Indians of America, or the black people of Australia... by the fact that a stronger race, a higher grade race... has come in and taken its place.

-          Churchill to Palestine Royal Commission, 1937

The above 2 comments clearly shows his 'superiority' attitude.  

 My initial views on Churchill were too naive. All I knew was that he was British prime minister of the UK during the troubled period  is called 'Second World War'. I have seen few the old video and audio clippings of his speeches. What I did not know is that he is prolific writer and was awarded noble prize for his writing, especially, for his work on Second World War.

If you want to read Winston Churchill online (www.winstonchurchill.org ) is a good place to start. It’s interesting to see that he above centre is based in the U.S.

Here is my summary of his speech 'Our Duty in India':

Churchill views the Indian National Freedom movement as 'Brahmin oligarchy'. [I have heard similar views in communist writings in India (what many refer as 'vomiting' of western views in India), maybe this is their source]  He disapproves Gandhi's leadership. 

He ridicules Nehru as a benefactor of British Empire with the following quote

'Already Nehru, his young rival in the Indian Congress, is preparing to supersede him the moment that he has squeezed his last drop from the British lemon.'

For many of you,  who are already aware that Nehru was more British by his upbringing than Indian, the above comment will not be a surprise. 

 In his Churchill's own words India was easier to administer.

'Do not be disquieted by exaggerations of the difficulty of maintaining order in India which are spread about for interested motives by the Socialist ministers and their allies. In the whole of the disturbances of the last year - except on the frontier - scarcely a British soldier has been required. Very few people have been killed or severely wounded in the rioting'.

He clearly supports the Christian Evangelisation in India  and it will be impacted if the British leaves India.

'There are also nearly five million Indian Christians in India, a large proportion of whom can read and write, and some of whom have shown themselves exceptionally gifted. It will be a sorry day when the arm of Britain can no longer offer them the protection of an equal law.'

Here are my favorite quotes from his speech on 'Our Duty in India':

'The Hindus do not possess among their many virtues that of being a fighting race. The whole south of India is peopled with races deserving all earnest solicitude and regard, but incapable of self-defence. It is in the north alone that the fighting races dwell. '

'there dwell in India seventy millions of Moslems, a race of far greater physical vigour and fierceness, armed with a religion which lends itself only too readily to war and conquest. While the Hindu elaborates his argument, the Moslem sharpens his sword. '

The  question may still linger in your mind that 'Is Winston Churchill a racist'? The following incidents and statement from Leo Amery might throw some light.

During the infamous Bengal Famine, Leo Amery then Secretary of State for India and Burma and Viceroy of India, Wavell, tries had to convince Winston Churchill to get some food supply to India.  Churchill responded with a telegram to Wavell asking, "if food was so scarce, why Gandhi hadn't died yet."   The fact that about 4 million people died in the Bengal Famine will show how insensitive Churchill had been on the food supply to India at critical juncture. 

"Naturally I lost patience," Amery records, "and couldn't help telling him that I didn't see much difference between his outlook and Hitler's, which annoyed him no little."

References:

1. The facebook forward that i received on Bengal Famine

http://www.sanskritimagazine.com/history/chilling-portrait-indias-forgotten-holocaust/

2. Article with similar view on the Bengal famine in the Telegraph:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/not-his-finest-hour-the-dark-side-of-winston-churchill-2118317.html

3. Churchill's Empire - book critical of Churchill

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Churchills-Empire-Richard-Toye-ebook/dp/B004PYDBTE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1403256091&sr=8-1&keywords=Churchill%27s+Empire

4. There is a book review of the 'Churchill Empire' defending the Churchill.

http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/speeches/speeches-of-winston-churchill/105-our-duty-in-india

5. Defending Churchill in the review of  another book thats Critical of Churchill

http://www.winstonchurchill.org/learn/in-the-media/churchill-in-the-news/966-without-churchill-indias-famine-would-have-been-worse

6. Wikipedia article on Churchill

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston_Churchill