Sanjaya Baru | Queen and the republic, and our feudal loyalties

The death of Queen Elizabeth II earlier this month has evoked worldwide admiration for the manner in which the United Kingdom’s longest reigning monarch conducted herself over a difficult century. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have renamed Rajpath as “Kartavyapath”, but most Indians are still in awe of feudal vestiges, including the Raj. Apart from our attitude towards the Queen and the English language, the growing UK-India relationship in the shadow of Brexit, with Britain desperately looking for markets and friends to replace the European Union, has raised once again the larger question of India’s attitude towards its former imperial conqueror. Addressing the students of Oxford University in 2005, Dr Singh asserted that “despite the economic impact of colonial rule, the relationship between individual Indians and Britons, even at the time of our Independence, was relaxed and, I may even say, benign”. But it must be a partnership on equal terms.” Dr Singh went on to ask: “What impelled the Mahatma to take such a positive view of Britain and the British people even as he challenged the empire and colonial rule?” He offered his answer in these words: “I believe it was, undoubtedly, his recognition of the elements of fair play that characterised so much of the ways of the British in India.