An author, politician and former International civil servant, Shashi Tharoor, once said – ” India matters to me and i would like to matter to India.”
He is currently a third-term Lok Sabha MP representing the Thiruvananthapuram constituency. People mostly regard him as “Oxford dictionary”, because of his impeccable knowledge of English Literature. Shashi Tharoor, in his book named An Era of Darkness: The British empire in India that was published in the year 2016 talked about colonization and the
disastrous effects it had on Indians. In his book, he explained about the evils of British rule and how it affected us Indians, deeply explaining how we were being trampled upon by the Britishers and treated as animals without any freedom. Tharoor wrote in details how the Britishers looted India off of it’s rich resources, culture and wealth. In one of the most famous lines from the book, he writes:
“They (the British) basked in the Indian sun and yearned for their cold and fog-ridden homeland; they sent the money they had taken off the perspiring brow of the Indian worker to England; and whatever little they did for India, they ensured India paid for it in excess. And at the end of it all, they went home to enjoy their retirements in damp little cottages with Indian names, their alien rest cushioned by generous pensions supplied by Indian taxpayers.” Tharoor has remarked that every single thing or development that occured in British India such as establisment of Railways, parliamentary democracy, rule of law and others were simply done for their own benefits and luxury and not for Indians or for India’s progress and betterment. Tharoor explains that though some British legacies proves to be useful today, however they were just mere side effects that came along with colonial authoritarianism.
Tharoor genuinely believes that after 200 years of immense brutality and injustice to Indians, Britain owes an apology to India and Indians. Some of the most outrageous events in history of India took place under British reign. For instance, according to recent studies, the Bengal Famine of 1943 that costed millions of lives was caused not only by drought but also by the complete failure of the policy of British India under the Ministry of Winston Churchill, who is remembered as the man who caused the Bengal famine. Furthermore, the horrendous Jallianwala Bagh massacre was a heinous crime committed under British Raj. Today, Indian society is divided along lines of caste, creed, religion and culture but it is little known fact that the Colonial Government ignited such divides and pitted one community against the other. Shashi Tharoor did a marvellous job with the book and made us realise what we had forgotten with passage of time.
Eduindex News 
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