Book Review: ‘Inglorious Empire’- Shashi Tharoor

In 1600 when the East India Co. was established, Britain accounted for only 1.8 percent of the world’s GDP while India was generating some 23 percent. By 1940, Britain was producing nearly 10 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) and after the British had left, India’s GDP stood at 4 percent. How did one of the wealthiest countries turn into one of the poorest and most backward in the world? “Inglorious Empire” gives a scathing account of what the British really did to India.
This brilliant reassessment of the Raj began, in fact, as a debate. At the end of May 2015 Shashi Tharoor was invited by the Oxford Union to speak on the subject “Britain Owes Reparation to Her Former Colonies.” In early July, the debate was posted on the web and Tharoor tweeted a link to it, which went viral.



Without any apology, the author tackles the true story of the Raj: The looting of India. India’s gradually dwindling share of the world’s economy begins when the East India Co. was incorporated by royal charter from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I in 1600 to trade in silk, spices and other commodities. The charter also gave it the right to “wage war” in pursuit of its aims. What started as a business venture turned into a deliberate and systematic conquest of the subcontinent: Forts protected trading posts and armies replaced merchants.

The East India Co. benefited from the unlimited help of the British government in the fulfillment of its economic goals. Indian textiles were so cheap that British manufacturers that were unable to compete wanted to eradicate them. The destruction of India’s thriving manufacturing textile industries fuelled Britain’s successful Industrial Revolution.




Up to the beginning of the 18th century, India’s share of the global trade in textiles was 25 percent. By 1830 the situation was reversed, British exports of textiles to India amounted to 60 million yards of cotton. In 1858, this number had soared to 968 million. The loss of jobs drove masses of Indians to search for work in agriculture. This affected rural wages.



There are many stories, which show the cooperation between Hindu and Muslim communities in pre-colonial times. The colonial interpretation of Indian history, which gave a restricted role to the Muslims, is undeniably responsible for the two-nation theory that eventually led to the creation of the states of India and Pakistan. Tharoor clearly believes that the creation and perpetuation of Hindu-Muslim antagonism was the most significant accomplishment of British imperial policy and it culminated in the horrors of partition.

“No greater indictment of the failures of British rule in India can be found than the tragic manner of its ending,” wrote Tharoor.



The book has much more in it , but all cant be shared. I can only ask for one thing:



-It's a must read book for every Indian.

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