Originally Posted by
DrRajpalSingh
Friends,
Some people believe it to be a boon whereas others believe it to be bane. So There is no unanimity on the role of the Imperialist occupation of India by the British which started with the battle of Plassey fought in 1757 AD and lasted in 1947 AD. The candid views/opinions of the participants on this contentious issue are invited.
Thanks.
An interesting Topic based on hypothesis. Some people do believe that English rule was good for India. The reason they often give (and all these arguments are taught in English books) are :
1. Brit made India a political entity.
2. They brought science to India. They brought Rails, Roads and Industries.
3. They brought English language and western education.
4. They civilised Indians (claimed by English and taught in the text books prescribed by them).
People argue that if there would have been no English Raj in India, India would have still have been a country of snake charmers. Poverty would have been worse than Africa. Leave these alone there wouldn't have been any such country as India.
Lets have a look at some of the arguments one by one:
Education & Poverty :
In their own words (Lord Macaulay) :I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief, such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self esteem, their native culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.
and it was then they implemented their own education system. The objective was to train us to be slaves and break our confidence, make us believe that Britishers are superior. They started their own convent school which were religious school run by nuns and priests who objective was to destroy our culture and religion. In convent schools speaking in Hindi was a punishable offense and is still in some of them. Even till now some Indians proudly claim that their son/daughter are convent school educated. So that was the time when we had no poor, no beggar. Compare this to when they left us. India was a country of beggars.
Infrastructure :
There is no doubt that they build all this infrastructure for their own needs not for our development. They build these roads and rails to effectively travel across India for better administration and to extend their own rule. There are some who argue that there would be no rail till now if there was no British Raj. It is hard to believe as there are other countries like Iran where there was no British Raj and who was culturally similar to us and look at them now they are considered an Industrial Nation now. There was no British rule in China and it was way behind us in 1940s and look at them now. They have one of the fastest rail in the world.
No entity by the name of India :
Well this is true that there might not have been a nation by the name of India. But that also doesn't mean that there would have been 1000s small nations. The boundary of India in the past kept changing. But that was same for everyone else? Historically there was no nation as Iran and Afghanistan. After the fall of Persian empire and Ottoman empire countries reorganised themselves and came up with new entities. Its hypothetical but culturally we are similar to North Pakistani and north west India and North Pakistan could have been one country. There wouldn't have been any partition based on religion. We wouldn't have lost that many people in partition. There probably wouldn't have been a border dispute with China. This region is one of the most fertile in the world and it could have been one of the richest even now.
Muslim Rule :
Some argue we might still have been ruled by Mughals. Its hard to believe as Mughals were very weak by 18th century and in Sikhs and Marathas were stronger.
But perhaps before we start this debate we need to understand the basic first that it was a foreign rule and we were no more than slave. If you were given two options live in Golden palace and be a slave for ever or live in open fields with not enough to eat I am sure all of us with little self respect with choose the latter. Why did Bhagat Singh laid his life. Just to breathe in "free air". Why did Netaji struggled and made an army against English raj? Because he couldn't see our motherland under Foreign Rule. It was a time when we treated like second class citizens in our own country. We couldn't enter their settlements , couldn't travel in first class. couldn't enter their pubs, couldn't be employed to highest ranks in administration, military and any other services. It was a time when in courts a white men's statement was worth more than all of Indians together.
I can happily live under congress goons for another 56 years but not a single minute as a slave under foreign rule.