India, July 30 -- As the intrigues, twists and moral dilemmas of Indian politics ensue, the brilliant but controversial enfant terrible of British politics, Winston Churchill's truism about democracy rings true: "The Opposition occupies the benches in front of you but the enemy sits behind you." Widely hailed as one of the "Greatest Britons", Churchill had a deeply unsavoury side that manifested in his irrefutable role in the Bengal famine and his clearly racist opinions about Gandhi, Islam and the Jews among others. The quintessential politician had a penchant for party hopping, or "ratting" as it was called.

Never short of wit to describe his political fleet-footedness, Churchill justified jumping from the Conservatives to the Liberals...