FORGIVE, BUT DON’T FORGET

• It’s possible today to do A-Levels in history in Britain today and not learn a single line of Indian colonial history.

• You can find a statue in the heart of London commemorating the animals that died on the Allies side of the two World Wars, but not a single memorial to the 1.3 million Indian soldiers that fought in World War I or the 1.7 million that fought in World War II, on behalf of the British empire.

• When the British arrived in India, the country had a whopping 23% share of the world’s economy. When they left, it had just 3%.

“I think you have to tell the English: isn’t it time you woke up and faced the reality of your own past?” said Shashi Tharoor to his enthusiastic audience, at the end of his discussion with Raph Epstein at this year’s Melbourne Writer’s Festival on 2 September.

The award-winning writer and Lok Sabha MP was there to discuss the arguments of his latest book, Inglorious Empire: What the British did to India, which looks in detail at the devastating impact the British East India Company and, eventually, the Raj, had on its so-called ‘jewel in the crown’.

directly elected chief executives in all the levels of governance. It strikes me as shameful that a businessman who wants to set up a factory in a town in China can go the mayor and get all the clearances. In India, however, the mayor is no more than a toothless and powerless leader o a glorified committee which has no powers either. So the businessman is at the mercy of some unelected bureaucrat for all the permissions. I don’t agree that democracy re uires us to e ine ficient. e can e an e ficient democracy in a system of directly elected chief executives.

Q. Do you find it easier to deliver your important messages as a politician than as a diplomat?

A. Politics is much tougher work. In my first year in politics, I ound my ack perforated with stilettos not only of my political enemies but my ostensible colleagues who clearly resented my entry into the fold. Some would say that I have still not fully adjusted to politics because of the way I speak my mind. But I have to be the person I am. Because of my views on certain issues, I have been called a quasi-BJP supporter. But I speak from a clear set of yardsticks as to what is right, moral and advantageous to the country. I would continue to speak my mind. I will never tailor my words for the convenience of my party. But when it comes to expressing what I see is the right thing, I will do it. It might not always be the politic thing to do, but it gives me a clear conscience when I sleep at night.

In his persuasive and thoroughly engaging discussion, Tharoor merrily debunked the most trotted-out apologies for the empire:

They gave us the Civil Service

Quoting Nehru, Tharoor quipped that the Indian Civil Service was in fact, “neither Indian, nor civil, nor a service!”

“The British had this pretense of promoting responsible self-government. But in practice they had absolutely no intention of relinquishing any real power to Indians,” he said, citing the ‘appalling’ racism that the few Indians who did make it into the top ranks of the service suffered, including Oxford/Cambridge educated judges who were literally driven to drink and suicide.

They gave us democracy

“First of all, no one gives you democracy. It’s a bit rich to torture, maim, shoot, imprison, and jail a people for a couple hundred years and then celebrate that they’re democratic at the end of it!” Tharoor said satirically, to appreciative applause.

The British could claim that they gave Indians the vote, but in reality, only one in every 250 Indians was eligible. Not only that, but they deliberately divided Indians into communal electorates.

Muslim voters had to vote for Muslim candidates for seats reserved for Muslims, and the same applied to Hindu, Sikh and Christian voters.

As Tharoor said, this was because “They wanted to foment separate communal consciousness in order to prevent democracy emerging.”

They gave us the rule of law

“It was applied with excessive attention to the skin colour of the defendant,” Tharoor parried.

In fact, just three cases of Englishmen being convicted of murdering Indians have ever been found by scholars, although hundreds of murders undoubtedly happened.

Furthermore, India is still “stuck” with the brutal penal code introduced by the British in 1861, which is why it is one of the few democracies in the world where homosexuality is criminalised, and why it has the most “draconian” sedition laws than any sedition law anywhere.

They gave us the free press

Tharoor conceded that the British did indeed leave India with a free press.

“Mind you,” he added, “they imposed a lot of restrictions on the Indian press.” He went on to describe the bestowing of a free press as strategic - part of the need to justify empire in the public space, in an increasingly democratic and liberal Britain.

“Behind closed doors, they were absolutely ruthless and had no illusions about what they were doing. But in the public space, in the public sphere, they had to ha e this language o ustification.

A new nostalgia about Empire seems to ha e descended two new films have come out this year about colonial India, neither of which seems to care to e amine the rapacity, cruelty and horrific racism that was the reality of the British project.

Tharoor believes that the past should be left in the past, but also that acknowledging it allows a better appreciation of the present.

“You know, one of the challenges with our culture as a whole is that we are very much a forgive-and-forget kind of people,” Tharoor mused. “Very little seems to last…and that’s good, because honestly rancour and bitterness are, terribly negative emotions…but I think we should forgive, but we should not forget.”

Aparna Ananthuni