07-08-2005, 09:28 PM
Has this man lost it? He's certainly loosing the little respect I've had for him about a year go - pretty fast.
The Raj was beneficial: Manmohan
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->LONDON: Fifty-seven years after Independence, Manmohan Singh has become the first prime minister in Indian history to salute the British Raj, its "beneficial effects (for colonised India) and its record of good governance".
Singh, who was speaking at Oxford as he received an honorary degree in civil law from the University's chancellor Chris Patten, broke with India's tradition of entrenched, inflexible resistance to bending the knee to its former imperial master.
But observers said Singh's extraordinary remarks, which saluted the British contribution to India's current, admirable system of "constitutional government, a free press, a professional service, modern universities and research laboratories", were also a clarion call for the former colonies to embrace self-confidence as the mantra of the 21st century.
Others said Singh's comments could be read as a statement of self-interest, with emerging economic power India seeking to cement its bond of blood and brotherhood with its former colonial master.
Singh said, "Today, with all the balance and perspective offered by the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight, it is possible for an Indian prime minister to assert that India's experience of Britain had its beneficial consequences."
The Prime Minister said, in what commentators said was a rallying cry for the new India, an emerging economy set on United Nations Security Council membership, that the Raj created institutions "fashioned in the crucible where an age-old civilisation met the dominant empire of the day."
Quoting Mahatama Gandhi, Singh said that even the naked ascetic, who put together the campaign for India's independence from Britain, had espoused "independence from the empire but from the British nation not at all." Singh's comments provoked surprise within the settled, large and diverse community of South Asia observers here.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The Raj was beneficial: Manmohan
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->LONDON: Fifty-seven years after Independence, Manmohan Singh has become the first prime minister in Indian history to salute the British Raj, its "beneficial effects (for colonised India) and its record of good governance".
Singh, who was speaking at Oxford as he received an honorary degree in civil law from the University's chancellor Chris Patten, broke with India's tradition of entrenched, inflexible resistance to bending the knee to its former imperial master.
But observers said Singh's extraordinary remarks, which saluted the British contribution to India's current, admirable system of "constitutional government, a free press, a professional service, modern universities and research laboratories", were also a clarion call for the former colonies to embrace self-confidence as the mantra of the 21st century.
Others said Singh's comments could be read as a statement of self-interest, with emerging economic power India seeking to cement its bond of blood and brotherhood with its former colonial master.
Singh said, "Today, with all the balance and perspective offered by the passage of time and the benefit of hindsight, it is possible for an Indian prime minister to assert that India's experience of Britain had its beneficial consequences."
The Prime Minister said, in what commentators said was a rallying cry for the new India, an emerging economy set on United Nations Security Council membership, that the Raj created institutions "fashioned in the crucible where an age-old civilisation met the dominant empire of the day."
Quoting Mahatama Gandhi, Singh said that even the naked ascetic, who put together the campaign for India's independence from Britain, had espoused "independence from the empire but from the British nation not at all." Singh's comments provoked surprise within the settled, large and diverse community of South Asia observers here.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->