British Rule – Loss or Gain?

By Shashi Narasimhiah

It is going to be 73 years since India won independence from the British rule. The British colonial rulers ruled India for hundreds of years and we are all very familiar with the dehumanisation, discrimination, injustice, atrocities and destruction they inflicted. On an assumed status of superior race, they used their guile and cunning to pursue a divide-and-rule policy, pitted one against the other, tricked the Indians into submission and finally as a parting gift broke the land into two pieces and left a permanent problem for us to deal with. The reminiscence of the British Raj which reduced India to be a poverty stricken, meek, head-bowing community lives on to this day.

However, let us consider the following:

1. For a long time in the past, India was never a single unit and instead was a collection of Kingdoms often fighting with each other. Had the British not invaded and ruled the subcontinent, what might be India’s political landscape today? Considering the linguistic, regional and cultural divide (and yes racism) that persists among the Indians even now, the plausible scenario is – there would be several small countries extremely vulnerable to attacks and occupation from the Chinese and Muslim rulers and there would no one big country – India. Under Mahatma Gandhi’s leadership, despite all the diversity and mutual hatred, India united into a single unit with the single objective of achieving freedom from the British. Thankfully, that unity has survived and the sheer numbers coupled with development have put India on a path of becoming a super power within the foreseeable future. Loss or Gain?
2. The British put in place an educational system which included teaching us the current language of the world – English (although of course the language was introduced to serve the British interests and not to educate the Indians). It is the language of the world because it is the only language which is universally accepted the world over. (For example, the only language for air traffic control anywhere in the world is English). We Indians – the educated middle class – are currently one of the largest English speaking communities in the world. Because of it, be it North America, UK, Europe, Australasia, Africa, Middle East – you name it, Indians have settled and are doing extremely well. Would an Indian be heading up Microsoft, Google and IBM if they could not take on the English speaking western society and win? Would millions of Indians all over the world and hundreds of millions in India be as successful without their English background and the western connection? Imagine if the educated India was not an English speaking community, how would India communicate internationally given that we have some 22 different languages and half the country doesn’t like learning and using Hindi. We are all well aware that even among us, English is the only common language. Loss or gain?
3. The British introduced and taught Cricket to the Indians which has become the main religion of India and indeed Cricket is the only main sport that Indians play, support and follow in such big numbers. The mood of India depends on the performance of her cricket players. India undoubtedly is the ONLY cricket super power in the world today.  Loss or Gain?
4. During the pre-British era India had not even heard of Democracy, let alone practicing it. India currently being the world’s largest democracy with a relatively free press and judicial system is a flow on from the British legacy. The democratic values of India are spoken of all over the world and is shown as a shining example of how democracy can thrive in a complex and developing country. Loss or Gain?
5. The British built a railway system in India which is now the largest railway network in the world in terms of the number of passengers. The railway which is undergoing continuous modernisation plays a significant role in economic and social development of the country. Loss or Gain?
6. Commencing with the Parliament house in New Delhi to the IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS – British laid a solid foundation for a robust political, administrative and legal system which is serving India well to this day. Loss of Gain?

And the list goes on…

We all acknowledge that India was a very rich nation prior to the British rule, no doubt, but let us not forget that – with the entire Industrial revolution taking place in Europe, with the exponential raise of North America in terms of scientific and technological advancement, and with Christianity becoming the front-line religion of the “WEIRD”(Western Educated Industrialised Rich Democratic) world, India would have been left clueless without the above factors and the subcontinent might have resembled many of the current African nations. Unwittingly, what the British did to us – even if only to serve their own interests, even if it was painful, might have opened up a window of opportunity for India to be a big league player in the industrialised world. Opportunities always come in the form of pain and problems. 73 years in a nation’s history is rather short and given another 73 years, when India is riding high, we may have some thanking to do, who knows? Considering the behaviour of the rest of the world outside of the WEIRD world, we may also have to thank God for the relatively less racist and less cruel British who ruled us and not anyone else! No wonder, even as of today, despite the racial profiling, discrimination and death of black persons recently well as historically, despite the protests all over the USA against racial discrimination, despite the highest authority of the land openly supporting the white community, people from the developing countries such as India are still eagerly waiting to go there and aspiring applicants are only disappointed that the Government of USA is imposing visa restrictions! So, in the long run, has India lost or gained due to th