More than
enjoying the hard fought freedom, at times, people of this great Nation still
have hangover of the slavery and praise their ruler, the British. I have never found anything good of that
slave centuries – this photo is different – at the centre is the British Prime
Minister Boris Johnson accosted by a common man in a Park – imagine this
happening in India. Leave alone the
dynasty rule, one cannot lift one’s finger and talk in such a manner to even a
local Councillor !!
In
1757 Mir Jafar, the commander in chief of the army of the Nawab of Bengal secretly connived with the British, asking
support to overthrow the Nawab in return for trade grants. The British forces,
whose sole duty until then was guarding Company property, were numerically
inferior to the Bengali armed forces. At the Battle of Plassey on 23 June 1757,
fought between the British under the command of Robert Clive and the Nawab, Mir
Jafar's forces betrayed the Nawab and helped defeat him. The battle transformed British perspective as they realised
their strength and potential to conquer smaller Indian kingdoms and marked the
beginning of the imperial or colonial era in South Asia.
Colonial
India sadly was the part of the Indian
subcontinent that was under the jurisdiction of European colonial powers. British simply looted all the wealth and took
away everything from here. The search for the wealth and prosperity of
India led to the colonization of the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
Only a few years later, near the end of the 15th century, Portuguese sailor
Vasco da Gama became the first European to re-establish direct trade links with
India. Having arrived in Calicut, which
by then was one of the major trading ports of the eastern world. Their expansion into India was halted, after their defeat in the
Battle of Colachel by the Kingdom of Travancore, during the Travancore-Dutch
War.
The 80th
anniversary of the start of the Second
World War fell on Sep 1, 2019. May 8 1945 marked the ending of WW II – thus the
75th anniversary of the end
of the war.. Most countries treat this global war, and their involvement in it,
as defining episodes in their history and identity. India does not – as yet. The
Second World War was unequivocally the most pivotal global event in
20th-century history. Its political, economic and social consequences are still
being played out today. The formation of the United Nations, and the grant of
permanent Security Council membership to five named countries, the victors of
that war, make up one set of such consequences.
Though
even Indian History failed to portray it – it hastened the Indian independence.
Decolonisation was
not a given at the beginning of the war. British wartime Prime Minister Winston
Churchill actually saw the preservation of Empire as a war aim. It was US President
Franklin Roosevelt who persuaded Churchill to commit to the agreement known as
the Atlantic Charter – the terms of which effectively made it impossible for
Britain to return to its imperial status quo after the war – and thereby
triggered the global wave of 20th-century decolonisations, starting with Indian
independence. Yet, India’s consciousness of
the war remains intermittent. The war is one of the best-documented conflicts
in world history, but India’s involvement has only recently begun to be studied
in depth. And when acknowledged at all, the focus tends to be on Indian
soldiers – of whom there were over 26 lakh by the end of it – and we never read
about it !!
Victory
in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of
World War II of Nazi Germany’s unconditional surrender of its armed forces on
Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the end of World War II in Europe. Several
countries observing public holidays on the day each year, variously called
Victory Over Fascism Day, Liberation Day or simply Victory Day. In the UK it is spelled VE Day. Several former
Soviet bloc countries like Russia, Belarus, and Serbia celebrate on 9 May as
the end of all combat actions was specified at 23:00, which was already May 9
in the Russian time zone.
Two months earlier,
on the Arakan coast of Burma (now Rakhine state in Myanmar), one of the key
Allied army formations in the field had been the 51st Infantry Brigade, which
as it happened, had just become the first entirely Indian brigade of the
Raj-era Indian Army. All three constituent battalions were Indian (the British
usually combined a maximum of two Indian battalions with a British or other
Commonwealth battalion), and its commander was Brigadier K.S. Thimayya, the first
Indian to command a brigade in action. The brigade had been successful and was
closely supported from the air by Hurricane fighter-bombers of No 4 Squadron of
the Indian Air Force (which, incidentally, had just been re-designated the
Royal Indian Air Force). Their successes were adding to the growing narrative
of the Indian armed forces’ contribution to Allied victory.
From past to
present - Britain announced another 346
coronavirus deaths, taking the UK's official fatality toll to 31,587 - but the
Government is 'confident' the infection rate nationwide is below one. Transport
Secretary Grant Shapps revealed the figures, which include fatalities in all
settings, at tonight's Downing Street press briefing, where he also announced
public transport will be shrunk to one tenth of its pre-lockdown capacity when
restrictions are lifted to keep commuters two metres apart. The rise in deaths is significantly lower than the
previous day, when 626 people were killed by the disease - but the numbers are
generally lower at the weekend due to a lag in the way they are reported and
recorded.
Prime
Minister Boris Johnson begged Britons to
stay indoors during the last days of full coronavirus lockdown to avoid
infections creeping back up. He tweeted: 'Thank you for all you are doing to
protect our NHS and save lives. This bank holiday weekend, please stay at home,
so we don't undo everything we've done so far.' Yet people poured into the
nation's beauty spots to soak up some bank holiday sunshine - including the
Prime Minister who this morning strolled through St James's park, where he was
accosted by a passer-by.
It
compounded existing accusations that the government is sending mixed messages
following a flurry of reports it is preparing to ditch its 'stay at home'
slogan. Mr Johnson was seen walking through St James's Park, central London
swigging from a reusable Costa coffee cup, which he has been seen carrying four
times this week. The new father, 55, who spent six weeks struck down with
Covid-19, wore a dark suit and signalled he was getting down to business ahead
of finalised the UK's route out of lockdown. As he marched to work, Mr Johnson
was accosted by a passer-by, who appeared give him a piece of his mind,
pointing a finger at the startled PM as a smiling woman looked on. The exchange
came as thousands of Britons appeared to be ignoring the Tory leader's plea to
stay indoors by heading to busy parks and markets to enjoy 26C temperatures on
what is expected to be the hottest day of the year.
Russian helicopters fly over Moscow Red Square
Miles
away, Belarus 'bribed people' to attend
the Victory Day parade to upstage Vladimir Putin's Russia as 5,000 troops march
in the country where President Alexander Lukashenko claims coronavirus is a
mass 'psychosis' that can be cured by vodka and saunas. Hundreds of
Belarusians, including Second World War veterans, attended a church ceremony in
Minsk that marked the 75th anniversary of the allied victory over Nazi Germany.
Many chose not to
wear face masks, despite the growing coronavirus outbreak in the country. The
9.5-million ex-Soviet nation has reported more than 20,000 confirmed cases,
with surges after mass public events, such as Easter services. It has been
suggested students at universities are being sent texts offering $4 towards
their fees next month if they attend, despite being told that their presence is
voluntary, according to a BBC report.
People, colonies,
masters and slave mindset !
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
10.5.2020.
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