Karam M ji,Karan M wrote:RajeshA,
When you face these guys anyplace on the net, 1-2 are British - rest will all be hangers on. The fencesitters are other westerners. Just calling all of them names is a tiring exercise. How much will you flame?
At the end of the day, winning arguements takes a convincing story - whether it be our own achievements (growth momentum - economically, socially, militarily - all need to go hand in hand) PLUS - the details of what the British actually did. The problem is, if we focus only on what the British did, the Brit/western civilization uber alles types will come back with stories of India today.
Which comes back to the claims of what Haresh pointed out about their usual claims of civilization etc.
Of course I agree that its not an easy thing because India will take time to develop. Perhaps far too much time, if it continues with the absolutely corrupt kleptocracy ruling right now, with its politics of patronage. Which is why the struggle against the "Economists" or "Telegraphs" or the "Guardian"s or the "Daily Mails" and their eager readers, will continue to be a struggle.
The Brits wont give up their place easily either. I find it amazing how they transitioned from losing power, to being the dominant influence peddler by hanging onto the coattails of the US & then continuing to shape American views. I suspect that almost 90% of the caste-cows-curry-fakir-daleets image of India, is actually shaped by British narratives of India, which were then adopted by the left & the evangelicals for their own purposes, and given wide play.
I think it is something typically Indian to see to it that we restore our dignity, and try to correct fabricated lies and propaganda directed at us, without hurting other people, including those who are leading the charge against us, and declare themselves as judges sitting in judgment over us! I can understand this!
But I would like to offer a different way to resolve our "Brit problem". In Hindi, we call it, "na rahega baans, na bajegi bansuri".
If the Scots get their independence in 2014, Great Britain, United Kingdom would be dead. So if there is no Britain, then the country which ruled over us for two centuries would be gone as well. In order to be nostalgic about the British Raj, and the intrinsic superiority of the British over the savages of India, there has to be some Britain, but when it is gone, who would claim its legacy. Great Britain should become history! So I hope that the Indian community in Britain gives maximum support to Scottish Independence.
With a smaller England, the Indian community would have bigger influence. The smaller England becomes, the more power it loses, the more England would be dependent on its relations with other major countries to boost its decreasing prestige, and thus the more it would depend on its relations to India through the Indian community.
The main thing is UK should lose its permanent UNSC seat and any ability to influence global events or to even have the ability to credibly support American war initiatives. It should simply become another Netherlands. In such an environment, where its traditional establishment cannot give Britain any leverage on the world stage, it would have to depend on the affluent and influential Indian community to lead it. Once that happens, nobody in Britain would ever again speak ill of India.
If you wish to win the argument against the British nuts, pull out the whole carpet from underneath them. Support Scottish Independence!