• April 19, 2019

Remembering Krishna Menon: the first Indian High Commissioner to UK: On May 3 at Nehru Centre London

LONDON April 18: After India gained independence in 1947, VK Krishna Menon was appointed the first high commissioner to the United Kingdom, a post in which he remained until 1952.

Krishna Menon was an Indian nationalist, diplomat, and politician, described by some as the second most powerful man in India, after his ally, 1st Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru.

Noted for his eloquence, brilliance, and forceful, highly abrasive persona, Menon inspired widespread adulation and fervent detraction in both India and the West; to his supporters, he was an unapologetic champion of India in the face of Western imperialism, who famously “taught the white man his place”; to his Western detractors, “Nehru’s evil genius”.
Such is the adulation he has been bestowed that every year talks and debates are held during his birth anniversary on May 3.
The VK Krishna Menon institute based in London, headed by Dr Cyriac Maprayil, will be holding an evening of panel discussion involving noted dignitaries from the politico-social segments within the UK and Indian communities.
The panel discussion, chaired by Dr Cyriac Maprayil will be attended by:
Rt Hon. Emily Thornberry MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Commonwealth Affairs
Rt Hon. Sir Peter lloyd, Minister of State Home Office (1992-1994)
Councillor Sunil Chopra, former Mayor of Southwark
Dayantha Dai Liyanage MBE, former Mayor of Medway in Kent
Tony Slater, Director Mi-Voice.
Dr Cyriac Maprayil is the executive director of the VK Krishna Menon Institute. He is a journalist, historian and academic and a human rights campaigner. He was the director of the East London Human Rights Commission and prior to that the director of Race Equality Council in Tower Hamlets council for over a decade.
He is the author of several highly acclaimed books, the best known of which are Nehru and the Commonwealth, The Crisis of India: The Way Forward and The Agony of India.
The event will be held at the Nehru Centre, 8 S Audley St, Mayfair, London W1K 1HF on May 3, 2019 from 6.30pm.
For further information please contact Dr Cyriac Maprayil, Director at V K Krishna Menon Institute drdrcyriac@yahoo.co.uk