Jaishankar pays tribute to Indian rulers who sheltered Polish refugees during WWII

WARSAW: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday visited two memorials in Warsaw that commemorate India’s humanitarian role in providing shelter to Polish refugees during World War II, recalling a little-known chapter that continues to shape the close ties between the two countries.

Jaishankar’s visit to the memorials came a day after he held wide-ranging talks with Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Friday, covering trade and investment, defence, space, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy and supply-chain resilience.

Jaishankar is on a two-nation visit to Ukraine and Poland from September 3-5. He visited Kyiv on Thursday, where he held talks with top Ukrainian leadership.

At the memorial of Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja of Nawanagar, Jaishankar recalled the words with which the Indian ruler welcomed Polish children who had fled the devastation of the war: “I am Bapu, the father of all Nawanagaris, including yourselves.”

In a post on X, Jaishankar on Saturday said Jadeja was “fondly remembered for looking after 1,000 Polish children during World War II” and that his “warmth & compassion remain an abiding bridge” between India and Poland.

Jadeja, the ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Nawanagar, now part of Gujarat’s Jamnagar, provided shelter and care to the children at a settlement in Balachadi. The children were provided accommodation, food, education and medical care, and came to remember him as their “Bapu”, or father.

Jadeja, also referred to as Jam Saheb, is popularly remembered in Poland as the “Dobry Maharaja (Good King)”. His memorial is situated in Warsaw’s Ochota district and is known as the Square of the Good Maharaja.

Jaishankar visited the memorial on Saturday along with Polish MP Kinga Gajewska and Ochota Mayor Piotr Krasnodębski.

The external affairs minister later paid his respects at the Kolhapur Memorial in Warsaw, which commemorates another chapter of India’s wartime assistance to Poland.

The memorial recalls the refuge provided by the princely state of Kolhapur to around 5,000 Polish refugees, including women and children, who were sheltered at Valivade near Kolhapur in Maharashtra during World War II.

“This act of generosity is still fresh in the memory of the Polish people,” Jaishankar said in another post on X, recalling the refuge provided to the Polish refugees.

The two memorials are part of a wider historical connection that has gained renewed attention in India-Poland relations in recent years.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited both memorials during his Poland visit in August 2024, highlighting the wartime stories as an important link between the two countries.

During his current visit, Jaishankar announced that the second edition of the Jam Saheb Memorial Youth Exchange Programme would take place in October.

The programme was launched after Modi’s 2024 visit and is aimed at bringing Polish youth to India to learn about the history of the Polish refugee settlements in Balachadi and Valivade.

The two sides on Friday discussed the war in Ukraine, the situation in West Asia and the Indo-Pacific. Jaishankar said India and Poland, as political democracies and open market economies, could cooperate on major global issues.

He said the two countries were also working on agreements in areas including cybersecurity, space, clean coal, classified information and critical minerals.