Should Britain Apologize to India?

Before making any argument, here is the fantastic speech given by Shashi Tharoor where — spoiler alert — he asks Britain to apologize to India for what Britain did to her for 200 years.

This speech is great, not because it makes some new arguments which were never made before. Mr. Tharoor has, of course, picked up his arguments from well known facts that have been documented at many places. His speech has become great because it was made in front of an elite audience, most of which was from Britain itself, was made in the times of social media where anything can go viral, and (my personal choice) his British accent which Indians — despite their hate of colonial Britain — like for its perceived sophistication and eloquence.

The facts pointed out by Mr. Tharoor are all correct, but does this premise justify the conclusion? Should Britain apologize? Why?

It has been 68 years since Britain left India. Churchill, the infamous czar of the Bengal famine, has been dead for more than 50 years. And the British people who supported this colonial regime have also given way to a new democratic England who erupt into happiness when a Scot wins Wimbledon after 77 years. Who should apologize (or pay £1 per year for the next 200 years) to us? The British people? The British government? The British country? It is not clear.

Moreover, Mr. Tharoor, by blaming our entire economic and social misforutnes on Britain easily masks the weaknesses of our people who let it happen to us. British just came in traders, and we allowed them to become dictators. Shouldn’t we focus on why we let it happen rather than asking Britain to apologize? Sadly we don’t; thats why we continue to blame the government for all that is bad in our country even today.

Britain of today apologizing to us, is almost as ridiculous as someone from an “upper caste” agreeing to let go of his rightfully deserved seat in an educational institute to an uber rich student of a “backward class” because his distant forefathers committed crimes and atrocities on people of “backward class.” And if we do not believe in reservation based on social grounds, then it doesn’t make sense to ask apology from people/government who had nothing to do with those incidents despite what happened back then was inforgivable.