It is not easy to judge the past. The cruel acts of British were nothing as compared to what the Muslim rilers did or what the upper caste Hindus did to the lower castes for milleniums.
The Brits should be lauded for modernizing and "creating" India. Hindu empires had ceased to exist a millenium ago. The scourge of Sati, thagi, jamindari and opression of the lower castes ravaged the land.
The contribution of Brits outshine their bad deeds: 1) Translated Sanskrit texts into English so that ordinary folks could finally find out what their religion actually said. 2) Wrote our history. 3) Abolished a plethoral of social evils. 4) Brought in the modern governance, education and technology (postal system, railways, modern cities and roadways) 5) Their mistreatment of Indians eventually led to the creation of national consciousness and ultimately led to the creation of a nation after 2000 years.
What is indeed a pity is that we have been unable to build significantly upon the systems that Brits brought since independence: governance, laws and planned infrastructure. No wonder many elderly people reminisce the British India so fondly.
RE:Britishers modernized India
by on Aug 07, 2007 11:32 PM Permalink
Well done Anurag..!! Few more people like you and India will rise n shine under gora raaj again!!! I don%u2019t deny the fact that the Brits got the postal system and railways..!! But the question is... did they do it for the betterment of the people i.e Indians or for their own purposes? The first railway line was built in roorkee to transport construction material for %u201CGovernment Offices". First passenger line was built in 1853 from bori bunder, mumbai to thane. Well this line was majorly used to move convicts to thane jail. Now, the postal system. It was "only" for Government purposes initially. Even during the independence struggle our soldiers did not use the postal system to pass messages only because it was the Government body and it was not safe. I think you forgot to praise the Brits for their excellent Prisons and soft punishments like Kala Paani. Have you ever been to Andaman? Do you know what our freedom fighters had to go through? Their life was far worse than any ill treatment you can think of. Coming to Britishers writing our History. And what do you think they did? Presented India as a land of snake charmers. Looking at the Political History, they always mentioned that Indians are a divided society, was there any good thing said about the society? No. Only the evils were highlighted, and how the Britishers helped the society to wipe out these evil practices. But Anurag let me remind you. It was this British Government that ruled us using the Divide and
RE:Britishers modernized India
by on Aug 07, 2007 11:35 PM Permalink
It was this British Government that ruled us using the Divide and Rule policy. I don%u2019t blame them for that it was our weakness that they took advantage of, merely for their own profits. People who actually worked for betterment of the society were not Government Officers. No British Officer was supposed to work on Humanitarian grounds. The work was only for Official and Profitable purposes. And did you forget our own Surdas, Kabir, Ramdas and Raja ram Mohan Roy, Swami Vivekananda, and Gandhi from the recent times. Translated Sanskrit into English for ordinary folks..!! Ordinary folks like you and me who need English to learn about our own culture?? I know it%u2019s easy for us to understand English. And Sanskrit is way off our understanding. But why do you need English? We have all our scriptures translated in many Indian languages. If you are really so keen to understand and study our culture, don%u2019t you think a Sanskrit script or a native language would be the best source? Britishers did translate our works. Good that they wanted to learn about us, but dear that was for their understanding. Appreciate what you have, your mother tongue!! Their mistreatment led to national consciousness and creation of a nation. But at what cost? One nation Bharat was divided. And we are paying for it till date. I agree that no one can rule you unless you let them rule. And unfortunately we have people like you who still think the British raj came as a boon for the country. Don%u2019t let someone ru
RE:Britishers modernized India
by amit jaiswal on May 14, 2007 03:20 PM Permalink
gr8 buddy..your English is great, which is not your mother tongue. Thats itself a gr8 achievement..c english ppl(brits)...they were here for so long time..but despite of being so intelligent they couldnot learn to pronounce Hindi or Sanskrit correctly.
RE:Britishers modernized India
by Anurag Gupta on May 14, 2007 10:09 PM Permalink
Most Indians are unable to speak in the native accents of the west. Does it mean they are not intelligent?
RE:Britishers modernized India
by on Aug 07, 2007 11:37 PM Permalink
Their mistreatment led to national consciousness and creation of a nation. But at what cost? One nation Bharat was divided. And we are paying for it till date. I agree that no one can rule you unless you let them rule. And unfortunately we have people like you who still think the British raj came as a boon for the country. Don%u2019t let someone rule us again for another 400 years. Open your eyes take what is good from others but at the same time don%u2019t forget the price you paid for it.
- Asmita Deodhar.
(could not add it all in one reply had to split into 3 parts)
