An Indian MP has fumed at an American anchor over a pro-British India rant on Twitter, according to reports.
Congress leader and former diplomat Shashi Tharoor hit back at Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson who on social media said that India has not built a single structure as beautiful as Victoria Terminus in Mumbai, since its independence.
Carlson said that the Britishers left behind an entire civilization in India and abolished the Sati. The Sati or suttee is a Hindu practice in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband’s funeral pyre.
The US media person didn’t acknowledge the herculean efforts of Raja Ram Mohan in abolishing the practice.
“There’s nothing like that in Washington DC right now, much less in Kabul or Baghdad. Today India is far more powerful than UK, the nation that once ruled it. And after 75 years of independence, has that country produced a single building as beautiful as the Bombay train station that the British colonials built? No, sadly it has not. Not one,” Carlson wrote.
He added, “The British empire was more than just genocide. In fact, the British did not commit genocide, except, arguably, against the Dutch during the Boer War. The British did leave the world the Magna Carta and Habeas Corpus and free speech. They helped end the Transatlantic slave trade as well as the ritual murder of widows in India.”
Responding to Carlson, Tharoor said that he has lost his temper upon hearing the comment.
“I think @Twitter ought to have an option for something to press when you can’t respond without losing your cool,” Tharoor wrote on Twitter, adding that he will, for now, content himself with emojis that convey anger, frustration, or rage.
A Twitter user, who posted the clip from Tucker Carlson’s show, disagreed with the anchor and said, “Funny, when I travelled all over India, the most stunning buildings I saw weren’t built by the British but by Indians themselves!”
“That was before colonialism, when they could still afford to…”
The user added, “Colonialism wrecked India, it didn’t build it. They’re only just starting to recover”
According to Carlson, when the US left Afghanistan it left airstrips, weapons and guns, but when the British left India, they left civilization.
“Strong countries dominate weak countries. This trend hasn’t changed. At least the English took their colonial responsibility seriously. They didn’t just take things, they added,” he said.
Since the death of Queen Elizabeth, thousands of Twitter users have demanded an apology from the new King, Charles III, for the British atrocities in India, the country’s colony for over 200 years.
