FESTIVAL OF INDIA, 1982 - CULTURE CAPITAL

The Festival of India grew into a symbol of our 'soft power', introducing our art and aesthetics to a global audience while also helping rebrand our domestic products

- BY KAI FRIESE

It may have begun as an attempt by Indira Gandhi to overcome her own negative image, thanks to the Emergency. Having returned to power in 1980, 'Mrs G' inherited a proposal that the Arts Council of Great Britain had made to the preceding Janata government, for a large-scale cultural event focused on India, to be held in the UK. The Arts Council was possibly inspired by the recently held 'World of Islam' festival of 1976 or ongoing plans for the 'Great Japan Exhibition' for 1981—or indeed memories of the famous exhibition of Indian arts which had been on display at Burlington House in London in 1947, before it returned to India and formed the core of the National Museum. However, the proposal had found little favour with the Janata regime, and perhaps only the chaos of the coalition's collapse deferred the project's official rejection. As it happened, Mrs Gandh