The Raj, revisited | Book Review — Peace, Poverty and Betrayal: A New History of British India by Roderick Matthews
Coins of the East India Company. The British made money in India, but they always made more money elsewhere. The substance of the link, its real value to Britain, was not primarily economic: it was geostrategic
History has for long been used and misused by all shades of political opinion and ideology. Why the past becomes a contentious battle can perhaps be understood by the famous quote of George Orwell in his book Nineteen Eighty Four: “Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” Since history fashions contemporary political theories, it’s a given that it will always remain contentious and controversial, and not only are politicians guilty of this, but even professional historians. Nowhere is this better reflected than in Indian politics and academia.
In a nutshell, what’s the brief outline of the history of India as told by Marxist scholars? That the ancient period was a period of…
