New Delhi’s African connections

People passing through Chanakyapuri in the capital may not immediately recognise who Kwame Nkrumah is when they see the signboard for Kwame Nkrumah Marg. Kwame Nkrumah was the first Prime Minister and President of Ghana, the African nation that PM Narendra Modi is currently visiting. A friend of India and a prominent leader of the African independence movement, Nkrumah’s name was given to a road in one of Delhi’s most significant areas in 1983 during the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.

Nkrumah shared a deep friendship with Jawaharlal Nehru, which became the foundation for strengthening diplomatic and cultural ties between the two countries. Nkrumah was among the founding leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement. He participated in the 1955 Bandung Conference, which laid the groundwork for NAM. Alongside leaders like Nehru, Yugoslavia’s Tito, and Egypt’s Nasser, Nkrumah helped establish NAM as a platform to safeguard the interests of newly independent nations.

Delhi also has roads named after two other iconic African leaders: Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser and South Africa’s Nelson Mandela. Nasser, another key figure in the Non-Aligned Movement, was Egypt’s President from 1956 to 1970. He shared personal ties with Indian leaders, and in the 1980s, a road was named Gamal Abdel Nasser Marg after his death.

The road connecting Vasant Kunj and Vasant Vihar is called Nelson Mandela Marg. Additionally, South Delhi has an Africa Avenue.

Delhi’s relationship with Africa formally began in 1954 with the establishment of the Department of African Studies at Delhi University (DU). Around that time, young students from various African countries started coming to DU for higher education.

Among DU’s notable alumni is Malawi’s former President Bingu wa Mutharika, who studied at Shri Ram College of Commerce and the Delhi School of Economics. Mutharika still considers himself ‘a Delhiwala’, as he told Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari on a state visit to Malawi in 2009.

Jawaharlal Nehru University also hosts a Centre for African Studies.

Vivek Shukla, New Delhi

Delhi