Places and forms of power

Spaces and Forms of power: India

• Spaces and Forms of Power implies the control that some people can have on a country or on the inhabitants. To illustrate this notion, we will concentrate on the case of India and its history through English colonization. So, we can wonder how India gained its Independence from the British Empire.

• First, I’m going to deal with the beginning of the India’s history and the British Raj.

After the failure of the rebellion in 1857 which was a major uprising in India against the rule of the British East India Company, all the power was transferred then to British Crown. Therefore, India became a Colony with Queen Victoria who took the title of Empress of India in 1876. It was called The British Raj. During the British Raj, Indian people were suffering from Great Famine like the one which took place from 1876 to 1878 in which 6 to 10 million people died. And a second one in 1899 which was as severe.

• In a second part, I’m going to deal with the difficult relationship between India and England.

As that time, relationship between Indian and English people were quite difficult so, English missionaries were send to India to reduce them and promote colonization. In spite of their efforts to solve the problems, they had a lot of difficulties to improve the situation. Indeed, there were violent Riots and uprising against the English in favour of Independence as we have seen through the experience of the old English Couple sent to India by the Civil Service after WWI. That was when the Amritsar massacre took place in 1919 involving the killing of hundreds of Indians civilians.

Furthermore, this idea is emphasized by the text “Passage to India” which underlines political tensions between India and England and the impossible relationships during the British Colonization.

Indians were considered as a population to be ruled. But the image that the English wanted to show, like on the graphic “Christmas in India”, highlights the devotion of the native servants. This picture stresses a reciprocal contentment between the two sides as well as it aims at promoting colonization.

• Finally, I’m going to deal with the most important people during this fight for the Independence.

A major character in the fight for Indian Independence was this great and pacifist leader Mohandas Ghandi. He devoted his life to India and the people that he wanted to free from the English yoke. He spent many years in South Africa helping the Indians struggling there for their rights through non-violence. His philosophy was based on civil disobedience and passive resistance as for example, during the Salt March of 1930 where the English made the Indians pay a tax on their own salt. As a result, sixty thousand people were jailed with him. Finally, after many fights and frustrations, Gandhi was victorious and India gained its Independence.

• As a conclusion, we can say that hadn’t Indian had such a leader like Gandhi and his people, it couldn’t have gained its Independence. This great man inspired Indian people and still has an influence over the world like Martin Luther king and Mandela.

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