Neo-Imperialism (or The Empire) is striking back. It has become a fashion these days specially among the British and American authors to glorify colonialism/imperialism, glorify the heroes behind these empires, magnify the "goods" brought by the western world and belittle the native culture, religion and science of the colonies. Authors like Niall Fergusson (he wrote Civilization: The West and the Rest) and Arthur Hermann (author of Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age) are good examples of this creed. I had written the review of Niall Fergusson book here.
Arthur Hermann "tries hard" to get rid of colonial hangover but in the process he enforces it to the hilt and uses so many false stats and myths. According to this book, Gandhi is no body compared to Churchill and Indians were always (not sure about today) inferior to the British people, Indian leaders except Gandhi were power hungry and greedy, Jinnah was tricked by Louis Mountbatten and Nehru while League and Muslims in general were tricked by Hindu dominated Congress, Subhas Chandra Bose was pesudo-Fascist and Nazi sympathizer. It also says that Stafford Cripps Mission of 1942 agreed to give Independence to India conveniently forgetting that it only promised Dominion Status, it also blames Gandhi for not negotiating properly with Britishers and charges him for wrecking the round table conferences and Cabinet Mission of 1946, it also says that Rice production fell acutely in 1943 causing the great Bengal famine but Dr. Amartya Sen has proved that Rice production in 1943 was 3 lakh tonnes higher than 1942 etc. The following passage drawn from this book shows one typical bias of Mr. Arthur Hermann:
"By the end of September talk of war between India and Pakistan was widespread. Nehru convinced himself that if he did not move on Kashmir, Jinnah would beat him to the finish line. On October 25 he ordered the First Sikh Battalion to be airlifted into Srinagar, claiming falsely that Afridi tribesmen were crossing the border and massacring non-Muslims. It was the Great Game all over again, except that the enemy was not Russia anymore but Pakistan’s Muslims. The Indian Army’s first independent military operation got under way. The first war between Pakistan and India over Kashmir began." (chapter 30)
World is what it is. Scholars and Historians rightly blame Germany for the genocides of Jews and others in 2nd WW-2 but they easily forget the artificial famine caused by the Britishers in Bengal that caused the death of 3 mn Indians in 1943. This book and kind like this are sharp reminder that the truth of colonial past should not be forgotten at any cost however "benign" it might be.
Recommended (6/10)
