British holocaust in India

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British holocaust in India

 

V.C.Vijayaraghavan

Some Indians especially Tamils were/are head over heels over the late

Britsh Indian Colonial Empire. Some devotees of colonialism like late

EVR thought that the depature of Britsh from India was a great

misfortune.

 

However, British period in India was a period of famines and

holocausts in which the Britsh profited by the famines, letting

thousands die.

 

Read the part of a book "Late Victorian Holocausts

El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World

By MIKE DAVIS" in

 

http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/d/davis-victorian.html

 

 

Responses:

Srini

VCV: Did Gopal Krishna Gokhale too see merit in British rule for some

more decades as an opportunity for furthering reforms? (I remember

having read so in Stanley Wolpert's book on "Tilak and Gokhale".

Incidentally, most justification on the then need to oust Britishers

seem to have stemmed from economic point of view, as though on social

plane the hihgly stratified Indian populace had come to accept the

British as perhaps belonging to another upper caste to whom

allegiance was perfunctory. !

 

 

 

V.C.Vijayaraghavan

 

 

Srini wroteVCV: Did Gopal Krishna Gokhale too see merit in British

rule for some more decades as an opportunity for furthering reforms?

-

 

GKG belonged to what was called Moderate Wing of the Congress. After

all Congress itself was started by an Englishman in 1885. Hence the

first 20 years, Congress was 'moderate' i.e. wanted more reforms of

the British rule to give more representation to Indians and basically

they wanted a kind of self-rule by the Indians under British

direction.

 

Ironically, even after 1947, ALL the institutional structure of

britsh India like the Beureacarcy, Army, Police, Parliament,

Judiciary were kept intact and they continue by and large unchanged

even after 50 years.

 

Whatever one may say about Britishers, three things are sure

1. They were and are master Institution builders

2. They take a pragmatic, practical approach to problems and solve

them

3. Their organizational capacities are great.

 

 

 

 

Sugrutha

 

 

VCV,

 

It was just not EVR. Ambedkar also was of the same opinion. In my

times I have heard many upper-caste people of the older generation

lamenting the demise of the british rule and the birth of anarchy and

corruption in public life.

 

 

 

V.C.Vijayaraghavan

 

 

I have also heard similar things from older generation people in

India who were in awe for police firings by the British or the

eficiency of their police operations.

 

This is similar to some older Russians nostalgically remembering

Stalin days, when there was order in Soviet Union and USSR was a

super power.

 

The question is at what cost this 'order' was brought about and for

whose benefit the 'order' was brought about.. The purpose of any

imperialist venture like British India was to exploit the 'natives'

and the 'order' is brought about only to make this exploitation more

efficient. There were so many other famines in British India with

huge casualties brought about by govt. apathy. For example in the

Great famine in Bengal in 1941-42, estimated 3 million people died.

This arose due to the govt funneling all food , transport and other

resources for war effort.

 

After 1947, the frequency of famnines has greatly reduced and it has

not occured in the last 30 years.

 

 

 

Sugrutha

At that time, when these great famines occurred, Indians probably did

not comprehend entirely the British hand in it. It is now after half

a century, when we did not have famines even during our worst

droughts, that we realise what actually happened. Among our

generation no one glorifies the British out of proportion and want

them back. That is what counts.

 

 

 

Srini

 

VCV: The point is if so many others felt the same way, why single out

EVR as an example for such kind of people? He atleast had a genuine

passion to do something for the underdogs, without any political

plot. I think such references will only nourish the unnecessary

shisms on who was socially and politically more correct.

 

I think historical figures should be judged more by their 'intent'

than by their idealogies. By this token, even if EVR had thought of

British presence being good for us, it deserves only as much

criticism as Nehru deserves for believing in Socialistic model for

India. In either case, the intent to serve the country was not

questionable, right.

 

 

 

V.C.Vijayaraghavan

Srini wrote: The point is if so many others felt the same way, why

single out EVR as an example for such kind of people?

----

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We are not talking of feelings of individuals but the political

actions. EVR decided to observe 15-8-1947 as a black day