Bigger India
If our ignorant academics really understood history they’d be proud of the British Empire write Indian historian Dr Kartar Lalvani
Before the Empire, the sub-continent was divided into numerous kingdoms and principalities, more than 500 in all. When the Raj ended in 1947, Britain left behind the largest democracy in the world.
He is justifiably revered as the spiritual father of Indian independence, the man who helped end British rule through his moral leadership, yet Mahatma Gandhi’s attitude towards the Empire was complex. He once said that: ‘India would be nothing without Englishmen.’
Those words are far removed from the current historical orthodoxy, which holds that the British Empire in India was nothing more than a vehicle for ruthless oppression and commercial exploitation.
Recent events have exposed how prevalent this version of history has become. As the Mail reported last week, the eminent Oxford theologian Professor Nigel Biggar has come under ferocious assault from academics for the thought-crime of daring to argue we should take a more balanced, less negative view about the legacy of Empire.