No More Common
One afternoon I was coming out of my apartment,
I found two elderly men distributing pamphlets outside. They gave one to me
also. I took it and started reading once boarded the bus for Leeds. It was
related to the recent fire tragedy of Grenfell in London. A new socialist party
wanted to garner public support against the May’s government for such ghastly
fire accidents. It was a good write up. I was reading it with keen interest till
my eyes stuck to a sentence which reads ‘Ex British Common wealth countries
follow UK building regulation for fire’.
I could not continue reading anymore and
got lost in thoughts. India is one of the fifty two ex-British Common wealth countries.
Have we ever thought what does ‘common wealth’ mean? Does not it sound like
British still assert natural right on these countries? Big Countries like
Australia, Canada, and India are part of Common wealth countries umbrella. Though
we gained independence seventy years back, why are we still being called common
wealth country? We can see and feel British influence in all walks of life in
India. From Horlicks to ring roads to red colored Post boxes, living in Britain
gives some taste of India and vice versa also holds true. Before Ex PM P.V.
Narshima Rao liberalized our economy in early nineties, it was solely dominated
by British products. Cherry blossom boot polish, Colgate tooth paste, Nice
biscuits to ranking system in army and management policies, all were ‘inspired’
by British. Thanks to our rigidness of using water in toilet, British could not
‘inspire’ tissue paper in Indian toilets. Post liberalization brought variety
to customer choice and introduced competition to British companies which used
to sell their products in India as their legitimate right to do so.
Though Britain is a small country, it ruled
almost whole world at some time. USA was also one of them. Post-independence the
most priority work they took was to overhaul the system introduced by British
and they introduced their indigenous system and policies. It was a big pain
initially. But it showed their tenacity and attitude to clear the dust of
slavery from their present and paved way for a new future. Different metric
system, different driver seating position in cars, having American English
itself was a big leap from the past. They maintained their cultural affinity
towards British as being white and Christian but they discarded the British colonial
legacy. Great attitude not great wealth makes great nation. USA proved it.
USA was not part of common wealth countries
though British ruled it well over a good period. What makes us so great to be
called common wealth countries? A
British company ruled a great and vast nation for more than hundred years
before Queen Victoria took control in 1857. What can be more ridiculous and
shameful than this? The whole country was ruled by a foreign company. Who will
believe it? But it had happened. There is a railway station near London called
‘East India’ station. British take pride in their legacy of ruling and
exploiting which they called civilizing the other world countries. They were
generous in their ways of colonizing and enriching their own wealth which they
rightly called ‘common wealth’. There is a big statue of Sir Havelock at Trafalgar
square in London central. Sir Havelock was honored for crushing India’s first Independence
struggle. British never showed any remorse even for their cruelest acts at the Jallianwala
Bagh, Amritsar. Millions in Bengal died of famine in 1940’s due to mobilization
of Bengal’s resources to British soldiers fighting in Second World War. Getting
back ‘Kohinoor’ will remain a distant dream for us. It is part of ‘common
wealth’, isn’t it?
It
may be ok for Canada to accept queen of England as their head of nation but we
are a country where Chanakya, Maharana Pratap, Chandrashekhar Azad, S C Bose to
be named few born whose vision of being sovereign and independent was
exceptional. People die but their greatness and thoughts never die. India is resurrecting
again on international diaspora. Our economy and growth projection cannot be
ignored even by world’s most powerful countries. It is good and high time to
give the country having more than sixty percent population below the age of
thirty five, a new attitude and a new horizon to target for. We are no more
common. We are a great civilization, an early guru of spiritualism and
knowledge and a humble nation but not a ‘common’ country to be called anymore.
