Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

It was good and bad

This refers to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Oxford speech. It was English that unified India. The knowledge of Sanskrit was confined to a few. Social evils such as sati would have been more widely prevalent but for the British rule. It is also important to remember that our independence was not merely the fruit of the freedom struggle. It was also Europe's policy of de-colonisation post-World War II that was responsible (whether it was the compulsion of times was another matter).

Karavadi Raghava Rao,
Vijayawada, A.P.

* * *

Dr. Singh was addressing the gathering as an old student saluting his alma mater. Some varnishing of unpleasant historical truths was in order. However, the gentle barbs, some plain and some nuanced, administered by him cannot be overlooked.

Tirumalai Raman,
Chennai

* * *

There is no gainsaying that India suffered a lot during British regime. But it is also true that the contributions of the British, albeit made inadvertently, led to the improvement of the Indian lifestyle. Dr. Singh just acknowledged that.

Even Rama recognised the goodness in his enemy when he implored Laxmana to learn statecraft from Ravana while he lay wounded in the battlefield.

Brajesh Kumar,
New Delhi

* * *

Whatever the occasion, the praise was a bit too much coming as it did from the Prime Minister of independent India. The so-called advantages are nothing compared with the plunder of our wealth and suppression under the racist imperial regime. Had India not been under colonial rule for almost 200 years, it would have been one of the most powerful economies of the world today. We would have evolved our own methods of governance. Who knows, we might have even provided a model to the world.

P.L. Ramana,
Nellore, A.P.

* * *

Can all the contributions of the British offset the souvenir they left behind for us in the form of Partition? Being modest and decent is one thing but our leaders should understand that their words have a much wider impact.

Piyush Gupta,
Chandigarh

* * *

The real issue is not whether or not British rule was good. It is why India, with over 20 per cent of the world income, allowed the British to take over in the 1700s. Even today, with its amazing talent in science, engineering and business, India appears to lack the national will to stand tall in the global sphere and demand its due.

G. Ananth,
Troy, Michigan

* * *

The numerous land revenue systems, introduction of railway network, spread of commercial agriculture, emphasis on capital oriented industries, and free trade policy all drained the resources of the brightest jewel in the British crown. The good governance the Prime Minister talked about was meant more to facilitate the drain of wealth.

K.S. Rajeswari,
Hyderabad

* * *

The British invested only in those enterprises that helped them extend the market for their products and increase the movement of agricultural produce from India to Britain. As for the railways, the Indian economy of the times did not need such a dense network. And the fact that Tamil revolutionary poet Subramania Bharathi had to move to Pondicherry, then a French colony, should dispel the myth about press freedom.

B. Uthamanarayanan,
Coimbatore

* * *

It is in times like now that I feel myself straddling my racial halves — Indian and Western. Reading the Prime Minister's address at Oxford, it looks like India itself is still struggling with the same dichotomy. Gandhi's and Nehru's foresight in their relations with Britain and the rest of the Western world shows a maturity that we must maintain throughout the next century. While the two worlds of my heritage continue to butt heads, I struggle to find answers for myself. Today though, I am proud to be Indian.

Pamela Sud,
Reston, Virginia

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