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The untold account of the internment of 3,000 Chinese-Indians after the 1962 Sino-Indian War.
Just after the Sino-Indian War of 1962, about 3,000 Chinese-Indians were sent to languish in a disused World War II POW camp in Deoli, Rajasthan, marking the beginning of a painful five-year-long internment without resolution. At a time of war with China, these ‘Chinese-looking’ people had fallen prey to government suspicion and paranoia which soon seeped into the public consciousness. This is a page of Indian history that comes wrapped in prejudice and fear, and is today largely forgotten. But over five decades on, survivors of the internment are finally starting to tell their stories
The Deoliwallahs records these untold stories through extensive interviews with seven survivors of the Deoli internment. Through these accounts, the book recovers a crucial chapter in our history, also documenting for the first time how the Chinese came to be in India, how they made this country their home and became a significant community, until the war of 1962 brought on a terrible incarceration, displacement and tragedy.
For the legal orders issued during this period see
Foreigners Restriction of movements Order, 1960
Foreigners Restricted Areas Order
Internees (Discipline & Offences) Order 1963
Reviews
India Today Review by Lawrence Liang
Biblio Review by Vidura Jang Bahadur
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