Lama Imam

Pamsa S7

Reading Response Chapter 14

In Chapter 14 of Bose and Jalal’s Modern South Asia we are introduced with details of the
Indian economy and the Indian political scene right in the aftermath of the Great
Depression. The Great depression, 1930 had a significant impact on one of Britain’s most
important colony as India was closely intertwined with the world economy thanks to British
intervention. This mass economic crisis also led to agitation among Indians and rise of
nationalistic ideas as well as increase in internal conflicts based on caste, religion and race. A
lot of the conflicts in India and how closely intertwined they were with British actions is a
concept I was unaware of before reading this book. This chapter introduces us to the
concept of British social engineering and how they reserved seats and offered provincial
electorates to especially the Muslims and depressed class so amplify the fracturing of
Indians and aggravate conflicts. Now instead of dividing and conquering Indian territory the
British had started to divide and conquer the population. This chapter also highlights how
British concessions to Indians were mostly a Farce, one example is the government of India
act of 1935 as a response to the nationwide disobedience movement. It seemed a charter of
slavery, the British offered provincial power to the Indians but kept the center power
themselves and the right to dismiss provincial ministers. It was an act to just maintain British
rule and not give the Indians any real power. Its diabolical. Gandhi’s non violence approach
and the violent, demand action and real power and independence approach of the
radicalized segments of congress conclude that a clear divide was made amongst Congress s
as nationalistic ideas rose in the aftermath of horrible affects of the Great depression on
Indian economy and social relations and the incompetency of British in meeting the
demands of Indians. Democratic verdict had even led to election of Bose to the presidency
of Congress in 1939, which was reverted by the Gandhian oldguard but now people were
ready to really struggle for true independence and not take the non violent approach. This
again was a new idea for me, how Gandhi’s ideas differed from those that prevailed in the
Congress. Another new idea is that the Hindu-Muslim divide was British engineered along
with many other conflicts and divide in India