08-28-2006, 07:02 PM
from Deccan Chronicle, 27 Aug., 2006
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Period from 1857-1947
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Itihaas: By Akhilesh Mithal
August 27 is an anniversary. 28 years ago, Lord Louis Mountbat-ten, the last British viceroy and governor general of India (1946-47) was blown up along with his ship (August 27, 1979) while enjoying his retirement in a sailing and fishing holiday off the coast of Ireland. His young grandson, who accompanied him, also died in the explosion.
The first British adventurer to earn fame in India, Robert Clive, took the title âLord Clive of Plasseyâ. In the same tradition, Louis Mountbatten called himself âLord Mountbatten of Burmaâ. Robert Clive had also died an unnatural death. He had cut his throat with a razor.
According to psychologists, this kind of suicide is a statement and demonstration of resentment in reaction to a (perceived) failure to be loved and understood by close relatives, friends and colleagues.
Lord Louis was of German stock, with the family name of Von Battenberg. The British royal family, also of German origin, had the titles of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. These names became a liability for the owners when Britain raged a war against Germany in 1914. Lord Louisâs father had to step down from his job as First Lord of the British admiralty, because he was a Count Von Battenberg. The British royals abandoned their German titles and took the name âWindsorâ and Battenbergs âMountbattenâ.
Envy and admiration for the British empire was the driving force of German nationalism in the 19th century. Up until that time, the ruler of a state was the embodiment of the nation. When Louis XIV said âL âetat ceâst mois!â (I am the State), he did not feel unique or different from his contemporaries wearing crowns.
Both George V of Britain and Wilhelm II of Germany, were grandsons of Queen Victoria and there was this cousin rivalry that gave a sharp personal edge to national competition. The greatest admirers of the British Empire were the Germans. Adolf Hitler turned a cold shoulder to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose during World War II, although he should have offered help to âthe enemyâs enemyâ. In Hitlerâs eyes, the British were admirably-trained people who had worked for three hundred years to assure themselves of world domination for two centuries.
They had learnt the art of being masters, and of holding the reins so lightly withal, that the natives do not notice the curb. His favourite movie was Lives of the Bengal Lancers.
As an admirer of the effective oppression of an inferior race, he records with approval âThe wealth of Britain is the result of capitalist exploitation of three hundred and fifty million Indians.â
A remark of Hitler reads: âThere are Englishmen who reproach themselves at having governed India badly. Why? Because the Indians show no enthusiasm for their rule. I claim that the English have governed India very well, but their error is to expect enthusiasm from the people they administer.â
In 1937, Hitler suggested a simple way to deal with Indian nationalism: âShoot Gandhi, and if that does not reduce them to submission, shoot a dozen leading members of the Congress, and if that does not suffice, shoot 200 and so on until order is established.â
The British shot down hundreds at Jallianwala Bagh and thousands in 1942. The Hitler formula did not work and the demand for Independence grew exponentially from movement to movement called by the Indian National Congress, led by Gandhi and Nehru.
<b>The Indian National Army of Bose made Wavell realise that India could only be held with ten divisions of the army, exclusively manned by white troops. The British decided to divide India and hold on to the part close to Central Asia through their puppets. Mountbatten accelerated the âDivide and Quitâ decision by many months and revealed the border lines well after the date of announcement of Partition. No attention was paid to maintaining peace and order.</b>
The half-to-quarter-million killed, the hundred thousand women abducted, raped, mutilated and sold into slavery, the millions uprooted from their homes and made refugees, were a direct consequence of this haste combining with <b>the poison sowed in Hindu, Muslim and Sikh hearts and minds by British text books teaching Indian history as a saga of Hindu versus Muslim.</b>
The Ghadar of 1857 saw Hindus and Muslims united in their fight against the Nasraanee or Christian feringhee, to protect their respective style of living and religious faiths. 1947 saw them kill each other with the British watching the fun. But not even a single hair on the head of a feringhee was harmed in 1947.
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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Period from 1857-1947
Â
Itihaas: By Akhilesh Mithal
August 27 is an anniversary. 28 years ago, Lord Louis Mountbat-ten, the last British viceroy and governor general of India (1946-47) was blown up along with his ship (August 27, 1979) while enjoying his retirement in a sailing and fishing holiday off the coast of Ireland. His young grandson, who accompanied him, also died in the explosion.
The first British adventurer to earn fame in India, Robert Clive, took the title âLord Clive of Plasseyâ. In the same tradition, Louis Mountbatten called himself âLord Mountbatten of Burmaâ. Robert Clive had also died an unnatural death. He had cut his throat with a razor.
According to psychologists, this kind of suicide is a statement and demonstration of resentment in reaction to a (perceived) failure to be loved and understood by close relatives, friends and colleagues.
Lord Louis was of German stock, with the family name of Von Battenberg. The British royal family, also of German origin, had the titles of Saxe Coburg and Gotha. These names became a liability for the owners when Britain raged a war against Germany in 1914. Lord Louisâs father had to step down from his job as First Lord of the British admiralty, because he was a Count Von Battenberg. The British royals abandoned their German titles and took the name âWindsorâ and Battenbergs âMountbattenâ.
Envy and admiration for the British empire was the driving force of German nationalism in the 19th century. Up until that time, the ruler of a state was the embodiment of the nation. When Louis XIV said âL âetat ceâst mois!â (I am the State), he did not feel unique or different from his contemporaries wearing crowns.
Both George V of Britain and Wilhelm II of Germany, were grandsons of Queen Victoria and there was this cousin rivalry that gave a sharp personal edge to national competition. The greatest admirers of the British Empire were the Germans. Adolf Hitler turned a cold shoulder to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose during World War II, although he should have offered help to âthe enemyâs enemyâ. In Hitlerâs eyes, the British were admirably-trained people who had worked for three hundred years to assure themselves of world domination for two centuries.
They had learnt the art of being masters, and of holding the reins so lightly withal, that the natives do not notice the curb. His favourite movie was Lives of the Bengal Lancers.
As an admirer of the effective oppression of an inferior race, he records with approval âThe wealth of Britain is the result of capitalist exploitation of three hundred and fifty million Indians.â
A remark of Hitler reads: âThere are Englishmen who reproach themselves at having governed India badly. Why? Because the Indians show no enthusiasm for their rule. I claim that the English have governed India very well, but their error is to expect enthusiasm from the people they administer.â
In 1937, Hitler suggested a simple way to deal with Indian nationalism: âShoot Gandhi, and if that does not reduce them to submission, shoot a dozen leading members of the Congress, and if that does not suffice, shoot 200 and so on until order is established.â
The British shot down hundreds at Jallianwala Bagh and thousands in 1942. The Hitler formula did not work and the demand for Independence grew exponentially from movement to movement called by the Indian National Congress, led by Gandhi and Nehru.
<b>The Indian National Army of Bose made Wavell realise that India could only be held with ten divisions of the army, exclusively manned by white troops. The British decided to divide India and hold on to the part close to Central Asia through their puppets. Mountbatten accelerated the âDivide and Quitâ decision by many months and revealed the border lines well after the date of announcement of Partition. No attention was paid to maintaining peace and order.</b>
The half-to-quarter-million killed, the hundred thousand women abducted, raped, mutilated and sold into slavery, the millions uprooted from their homes and made refugees, were a direct consequence of this haste combining with <b>the poison sowed in Hindu, Muslim and Sikh hearts and minds by British text books teaching Indian history as a saga of Hindu versus Muslim.</b>
The Ghadar of 1857 saw Hindus and Muslims united in their fight against the Nasraanee or Christian feringhee, to protect their respective style of living and religious faiths. 1947 saw them kill each other with the British watching the fun. But not even a single hair on the head of a feringhee was harmed in 1947.
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