Psychologists frequently refer to two important psychological conditions in their studies on Hostages and Prisoners; known as PTSD and Stockholm syndrome. Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological condition in which a Captive or hostage grow feelings of affection, trust and love for his Captors. This condition arises because of the extreme dependence of a hostage on his Captor for his needs and liberty for a long time. Here victims interpret small acts of kindness by his Master as good treatment. Today, instead of a single hostage, we will study the case of our whole nation suffering from Stockholm disorder, having feelings of love and pride for all those who have looted this land and have kept us enslaved for many years.
For about 200 years, after toppling Muslim Rule in India, people of the subcontinent were suppressed and enslaved by the British colonialists. These colonial masters threw people of the subcontinent deep into poverty and subjugation. Still, we hear voices praising British masters for building bridges and Railway tracks, a classical example of Stockholm syndrome where the hostage feels thankful to his master for giving him a slice of what he has taken from him. We hate India but feel proud of getting a British passport, our military men proudly join the British military academy, because maybe we have forgotten what colonials did to the Indian subcontinent. We must remember our dark colonial era under the British empire.
Britishers entered India, not for the benefit of the locals but for the exploitation and utilisation of the rich resources of the Indian subcontinent. Roads, bridges and railway lines were built with the sole purpose of serving British economic and military interests. These roads and Rails were designed to carry raw materials from India to seaports to be shipped to Britain. Not to mention that these infrastructures were built at the expense of Indian taxpayers money, by private British companies without any external investment.
According to British economist Angus Maddison, India’s share of the world economy fell from 24.4% in 1700 to 4.2% in 1950. However, during the same term, United Kingdom’s share of the world economy rose from 2.9% in 1700 up to 9% in 1870. During the British rule, India was hit by countless famines from 1770s up till the worst ‘Bengal Famine’ in 1940s. Between 20 to 25 million people died due to these British induced famines, caused because of export of huge quantity of Food resources to Britain by the colonial government under a ruthless exploitation agenda. The great Winston Churchill showed no sympathy towards the people of Bengal during the 1943 famine, responding with insensitive and Cunning remarks, calling Bengalis as ‘beastly People’.
Thus Britain’s economic rise for over 200 years was financed by the exploitation of the Indian subcontinent. Colonial British empire not only exploited the Indian soil but also its men. During world war one and two Millions of Muslims and Hindus were recruited to participate in the war to defend British borders. Approximately 1.5 Million Indian soldiers served during World war One, thus 1/6th of all the forces that fought in the war were Indians. 54 thousand Indian soldiers lost their lives while 60 thousand were wounded. Most of these fighters were Pukhtoons, Sikhs, Gurkhas, Garhwalis and the Dogras. About 40 thousand of these soldiers were Muslims. Britishers in return repaid Muslims by breaking all promises and shattering the Ottoman Empire after winning world war one. We not only fought to defend our oppressors but also financed our own oppression in many ways. Civil servants belonging to the Imperial civil service posted in india to enslave masses were one of the most highly paid officers in the whole Britain civil service. Similarly, British politicians proudly called England as ‘mother of parliament’ and labelled themselves as the ‘source of democracy in india’ after controlling India for over 200 years through undemocratic and oppressive structures. To gain greater control over the masses of the subcontinent, Britishers adopted it’s policy of divide and rule, planting the seeds of sectarian and religious hatred among different communities.
There was absolutely no limit to their oppressive schemes. By looking at all these facts we can visualise how Britishers looted the subcontinent in every way possible. However, It seems like, that in our hate for Hindus we have completely forgotten the role of Britishers in destroying not only Muslim empire but also the lives of millions of people of the subcontinent. We are fed with hatred towards Hindus, labelling them as the chief cause of every mischief and every harm caused to the Muslims of the subcontinent, leading to the development of a mindset that we have got independence from Hindus and not from our British colonial masters. We are infact now in love with our colonial masters. The purpose of this writing is not to spread feelings of hatred towards Britishers but to remind us of the dark colonial era and to place responsibility on people who were truly responsible for the destruction caused in the subcontinent.
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