January 1947
U Aung San's historic meeting with Pandit Nehru
room India
people General Aung San Pandit Nehru
General Aung San met with Pandit Nehru in Delhi, where he stopped on his way to London to discuss Burmese independence with Prime Minister Clement Attlee.
Pandit Nehru realized General Aung San's tropical outfit would not be suitable for London, which was then experiencing one of its coldest winters in history. He gave General Aung San a greatcoat and had two new bespoke uniforms of warmer material made for him. The winter of 1946-47 was to be the UK's coldest in three centuries, with temperatures falling to -21 degrees Celsius and fuel shortages leading to widespread power cuts.
Pandit Nehru remained a great friend of Burma, visiting many times from the 1930s onwards until his death in 1964.