Winston Churchill, Britain's World War II prime minister, was prepared to let Indian independence leader Mahatma Gandhi starve to death if he went on hunger strike while interned during the war, archives released in London showed Sunday.
He thought Gandhi should be dealt with like any other detainee if he refused food.
Churchill's tough line was recorded during war cabinet meetings, which also showed Britain's confusion over how to handle the charismatic Indian leader's stance of peaceful opposition.
The notes record Churchill as saying Gandhi should stay in detention and "let him do as he likes".
Deputy cabinet secretary Sir Norman Brook's notes reveal ministers wondered whether Gandhi as a martyr would lead to a mass uprising in India - and embarrassment for Britain.
However, they did not want to free Gandhi and allow him to campaign against the war and British rule while the crown colony was under the threat of Japanese invasion.
Gandhi was held for two years at the Aga Khan's Palace in Pune, western India, from August 1942 after slamming India's involvement in the war and calling for civil disobedience.
India's viceroy, Lord (Victor) Linlithgow, sent ministers a telegram stating he was "strongly in favour of letting (Gandhi) starve to death". if he went on hunger strike.
However, officials in London worried that the backlash would be too powerful.
Lord (Edward) Halifax, the ambassador to the United States and a former viceroy of India and foreign secretary, told cabinet the day after Gandhi's August 9 arrest in Bombay: "Whatever the disadvantages of letting him out, his death in detention would be worse."
Ministers decided in January 1943 that although they could not be seen to cave in to a hunger strike, they would free him on compassionate grounds were he likely to die. Sir Stafford Cripps, minister for aircraft production - who the previous year had failed to reach an agreement with Gandhi that would secure Indian loyalty to the war effort - said: "He is such a semi-religious figure that his death in our hands would be a great blow and embarrassment to us."
However, Churchill, annoyed by the prospect of Gandhi claiming a moral victory, said: "I wd (would) keep him there and let him do as he likes," according to the notes.
"But if you are going to let him out because he strikes, then let him out now."
Churchill also demanded that any action on Gandhi should be portrayed as a victory for the authorities. "Cab(inet) feel v (very) strongly on principle of release because of strike.
"Wd prefer to release as act of grace because det(ained) 6 (months) and we've beaten him."
The Indian leader, born in 1869, was released in 1944, as officials feared his failing health could see him die in British custody although he had not been on hunger strike.
Gandhi was shot dead in New Delhi in January 1948 by a Hindu radical. He was 78.
HITLER 'IN ELECTRIC CHAIR':
Sir Winston Churchill also wanted to see Adolf Hitler die in the electric chair as World War II drew to a close, according to official papers.
Churchill also felt strongly that senior Nazis should be summarily executed, rather than put on trial for war crimes, detailed minutes of meetings of his war cabinet in 1942 to 1945 suggest.
The papers - once top secret - were released Sunday by the National Archives in Kew, west London, and posted on its website (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk).
Consisting of notes taken by deputy cabinet secretary Sir Norman Brook in his own style of shorthand, they offered the first detailed insight into what was said in the war cabinet during the global conflict.
Previously released minutes have only recorded the general tenor of discussions, without naming names.
At one war cabinet meeting in December 1942, when Hitler's grip on mainland Europe was at its strongest, Churchill commented: "Contemplate that if Hitler falls into our hands we shall certainly put him to death."
"Not a Sovereign who could be said to be in the hands of Ministers, like Kaiser. This man is the mainspring of evil."
While capital punishment in Britain at the time involved hanging, Churchill suggested that electrocution equipment could be obtained from the United States through the Lend-Lease arms supply programme.
"Instrument - electric chair, for gangsters no doubt available on Lease Lend," the prime minister was quoted as saying
Two-and-a-half years later, with the Allies closing in on Berlin and Hitler trapped in the bunker where he would take his life, the question of whether Nazis deserved to be put on trial arose.
In April 1945, Home Secretary Herbert Morrison expressed the opinion - seemingly popular with colleagues - that a "mock trial" for Nazi leaders would be "objectionable".
"Better to declare that we shall put them to death," he said.
Churchill agreed that a trial for Hitler would be "a farce", saying: "All sorts of complications ensue as soon as you admit a fair trial."
Within weeks, however, it became clear that both the United States and the Soviet Union favoured court proceedings.
On May 3, the minister for civil aviation, Viscount Swinton, reported that "the situation has changed: if we can't agree on procedure for leaders, let us get agreed procedure on the others. The leaders are being liquidated anyhow."
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