Posted on 07/09/2005 11:02:14 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday acknowledged the "beneficial consequences" of British colonial rule like "free press, constitutional government, professional service, modern universities and research laboratories".
Speaking at Oxford after receiving a honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law, Dr Singh said, "Today, with the balance and perspective offered by the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight, it is possible for an Indian prime minister to assert that India's experience with Britain had its beneficial consequences too."
He added: "Our notions of the rule of law, of a constitutional government, of a free press, of a professional civil service, of modern universities and research laboratories have all been fashioned in the crucible where an age-old civilisation met the dominant Empire of the day."
Dr. Singh said India's struggle for independence was more an assertion by Indians of their "natural right to self-governance" than an outright rejection of the "British claim to good governance."
Both India and Britain had "learnt" from each other and had much to teach the world. "This is perhaps the most enduring aspect of the Indo-British encounter," Dr. Singh added.
Local kings were even bigger crooks than the Brits. I give you that.They enjoyed British rule and were the ones who lost most when British left India. They hated the idea of an independent India ruled by their lowly former subjects. They lost everything , palaces , wealth ,women ..after India became free.
You're misreading my post. I didn't say the British had good intentions. I said that modern India would most likely not be a single country if it weren't for British Colonial rule. Interestingly, the same could probably be said of the United States.
I will go further, and say that the Indians managed to take the best from Britain, despite the ills they suffered under them. The same effect can be seen in Roman rule. People took away the ideal, despite the obvious miscarriage of those ideals by the Romans themselves.
Yeah...thats our view as well. Take the good stuff ; forgive but do not forget the bad stuff.
Actually,there are lots of works out there.Some deal directly with the subject,while the majority look at it through the roles of a particular protagonist like Gandhi,Mountbatten,Nehru etc & their role in events of the period.I've personally like 'Freedom at Midnight'(Larry Collins & Dominique Lapierre) & 'India wins freedom'(Maulana Abul Kalam Azad).A very interesting work,I read recently was a book on Nehru called 'Nehru-the invention of India' by Shashi Tharoor.
This reminds me of the monty python sketch in the 'Life of Brian' where the Palestinian freedom fighter, desperate to break free from the 'oppression' of the evil roman empire asks 'What have the romans ever done for us?'
Yeeerrrrr. Say the crowd ready to riot.
'errr. The roads. They built the roads' says one would be rebel.
'Apart from that' says the beligerant leader. 'What have the Romans Ever done for us'?
'Sanitation.'
'Apart from the roads and sanitation? WHAT HAVE THE ROMANS EVER DONE FOR US!'
'Medicine'
'And Apart from that?'
'Eduction'
'Rule of Law'
'Advances in science'
'Setting up a stable economy'
etc. etc.
'Yes, yes yes but apar from that - what have the Romans ever done for us! KILL THE OPPRESSORS'
And so on. Doesn't transcribe well - but is funny as heck with John Cleese.
Won't work in this particular context because you are assuming Indians didn't have education , science , laws , roads etc. before the British came...which is strictly not true.
I'm no historian , my knowledge of history is fading and based on whatever I crammed in high school 10 years back. Sorry ;)
This man recognizes that the Indians appreciated things about the British.
The same cannot be said of those who suffered under Nazis. Such a comparison is asinine.
Interesting read:
http://members.tripod.com/~INDIA_RESOURCE/colonial.html
I've wondered why relations have been so cool (not so much now) over the years, given that there are no real disagreements, historical bad blood, etc. The world's two largest democracies should be working together much more closely. I can see our "alliance" with Pakistan being an issue, but we haven't backed Pakistan vs. India like the Chinese have. Nor do we hold Indian territory, like the Chinese.
"I find it amusing that most of the anti British posts (at the Eton exhibit) come from "Indians" living abroad. I think it would be fair to say most of them would not be there if it was not for the British installing an educational system. Even the so called nationalist leader Gandhi was educated in Britain. The British abolished barbaric practices reminiscent of the Taliban such as widow burning among others. The recent boom in outsourcing jobs to India is mainly due to the Indians command of English. As for the British dividing India, I don't recall an English man devising the caste system. Tyrannical rulers such as Auragzeb who tore down Hindu temples and imposed high taxes for Hindus were not of cockney origin. In fact the Hindus and Muslims were never more united under the British. They unity was brought upon by their unfounded hatred for the British. Once independence was guaranteed old feuds were once again started between the Hindus and the Muslims. This is hardly the fault of the English. If Gandhi and Nehru didn't alienate Jinah there probably would have never been a Pakistan or Bangladesh. They do not mention in the Indian textbooks that a few days after independence Nehru asked the British to manage the partition after Indian methods had failed thus saving lives. As for the British plundering India by producing goods cheaply and then selling them in the west at higher prices. The same is being continued, this time by Indian companies, and multinational corporations. It is pretty ironic that most of these nationalist Indians visit a British website for news on India. Face it gentlemen the British dragged Indians kicking and screaming into the modern world. Things could have been much worse we could have been a French colony!
Its very simple. Those who are socialist/leftist/Islamist hate US among the many other things they hate. Rest dont have a problem.
Sounds pretty funny the way you described it. LOL!
Is this acknowledgment of the obvious a new phenomenon or is there something behind it? Maybe now that Western Civilization is under attack again, it is time take inventory of what we hold dear.
Since those green areas are, by definition, free, then Britain can claim they own none of it. Those countries are, more or less, the children of Western Civilization.
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