Do we deserve Independence?

Was it a war of independence in 1857? If the Indian side on the so called war of independence had defeated the British, what would have been the situation? Bahadurshah Safar would have become an “Emperor” of India. India would be a territory comprising Hindi speaking region surrounding Delhi. Bengal and the South would still be under the control of British and the British controlled region would have been still much larger than the “Independent India”. I doubt that those who fought the British in 1857 were patriots. They fought because they had their own grievances against British. Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi lost her kingdom under the “Doctrine of lapse” propounded by Lord Delhousie. The Nawab of Lucknow had similar grievances. Still let us assume that India became independent in 1857. The Sikhs would still have been outside the then India. Would they cede their territory and become loyal citizens of India? Actually they fought along with the British in 1857. And what about Bengal and the South? Assuming that the British forces could be defeated by the forces of Independent India, will the people of those territories join “India”?

In Maharashtra they say “Jai Maharashtra” and not “Jai Hind”. I believe that in other States they say only “Jai Hind”. Even among the cricketers when all the other members of the team said “Jai Hind”, Sachin Tendukar said “Jai Maharashtra”, though his statement that Mumbai belonged to all Indians created a flutter among the Sainiks. What is the reason for this?

The joint forces of the British and the Peshwas, defeated and killed Tipu Sultan in the last Musore War in 1799. When Tippu Sultan was dying and was in his last breath, the British General and the Peshwa jointly sentenced him to death “for defying the Emperor at Delhi”. “The Emperor” was actually a vassal of the Peshwa.

Thus at the beginning of the 19^th Century, the Marattas and the British were the super powers in India. Both controlled almost equal size of territories. The Marattas may have had ambition to take the other part also from the British and create a Maharashtra. If that had been achieved I am unable to imagine what kind of India or “Maharashtra” that would be. Would it be a democracy with equality of all people irrespective of the region they may belong to or the language they may speak, or a colony of the Marathi speaking nation? In any case if they had any such ambition, everything fell flat in 1857. For the next 90 years it was absolute British Rule.

As all know the British left in 1947. When the India Independence Bill was being argued in the British Parliament, Sir Winston Churchill prophesied that Independent India will crumble in no time. In 1959 the first Prime Minister of India Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru was still the Prime Minister. Then Vincent Sheen wrote in the Time magazine, how India had progressed and how Winston Churchill was proved wrong. However the article ended in a note “After Nehru, what”.

Now 47 years have passed after the death of Nehru. I suddenly remember Churchill’s words in the British Parliament in 1947.

Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, freebooters and charlatans; all Indian leaders will be of low caliber and men of straw. They will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. Giving false promises will be their game with the poor and stupid masses. They shall be shameless and unpatriotic in their ways while handling problems of people. They will fight amongst themselves for power and India will be lost in political squabbles. Justice will be a matter of Joke. A day would come when even air, water..., and even common salt would be taxed in India.

After all, was Sir Winston Churchill right in his prophesies?  I shudder to think what would have followed if we had achieved independence in 1857.