Britain will never have a good relationship with India while it remains obsessed with empire Seventy years ago today, the British Raj ended with much pomp and ceremony. “A moment comes, which comes but rarely […]

Seventy years ago today, the British Raj ended with much pomp and ceremony.

“A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step from the old to the new.” Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s Prime Minister, on the day of Partition in 1947 i's opinion newsletter: talking points from today Email address is invalid Email address is invalid Thank you for subscribing! Sorry, there was a problem with your subscription.

Jawaharlal Nehru, elected PM, made a stirring speech: “Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny…at the stroke of midnight India will wake up to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step from the old to the new, when an age ends.”

Incredibly and pathetically, that age never ended for some Brits. Imperial arrogance still courses through the veins of millions. Around 45 per cent of British people believe colonialism was great for both the rulers and the subjugated. The Raj for them is a historical romance.

The story in India is very different. The British aided and abetted those politicians who wanted to scythe one land into two: India and Pakistan. Partition led to a huge mass displacement of people. On this day, in both India and Pakistan, joy is shadowed by grief. Their people will never forget what happened.

‘It is time for humility and contrition‘

Distrust of the British

In India earlier this year, I witnessed the power of that unforgotten past. In Mumbai the literati buzz was over two books – Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India by Shashi Tharoor, an MP and ex- diplomat and In Hot Blood by Mumbai journalist Bachi Karkaria.

The first is a terrific, evidenced, challenge to revisionist historians, the likes of Naill Ferguson and Andrew Roberts, who have shamelessly turned the empire into a glorious enterprise and “civilizing” mission. The British gave trains to India! Oh, and democracy too! (Japan, which was never colonised has the best trains in the world. And democracy was not available to most British subjects. Just saying.)

Karkaria’s book is about a real murder that took place in Mumbai in 1959, twelve years after the Brits had sloped off. On the 27th of April, handsome Naval Commander Kawas Nanavati shot dead flamboyant businessman Prem Ahuja. Ahuja was having an affair with Nanavati’s wife, Sylvia, a pretty, young Englishwoman from Portsmouth. The killer was acquitted, partly because his case became a celebrity media trial.

Several artists and writers I know believe Sylvia was a symbol of British evil intent and interference in Indian matters long after independence. One filmmaker told me: “They cannot be trusted, not as lovers, political allies or trading partners. We will always come off badly if we do business with these British”.

A historical delusion

Now I also know many Indians and Pakistanis who are disillusioned by corruption in their countries, and some admire British democratic institutions. But the most Anglophile of them still feel that Britain in the 21st Century is stuck in a historical delusion and that Brexit was, in part, about those fantasies.

Liam Fox are Boris Johnson are among the worst afflicted. They seem to think they are running a new, brash East India Company and that brown-skinned movers and shakers are easily swayed. It is time for humility sirs, and contrition. Indians expect respect and historical truths about the Raj. So is it to be deal or no deal?