Markandey Katju

Dinner at the German Embassy, Year.2014

I was invited by the Ambassador, Michael Steiner, who is a good friend. The Chief Guest was the German
Foreign Minister, who is on a visit to India.

Before the dinner I spoke to some Germans, including the Deputy Ambassador. In my usual outspoken
way, I said that you Germans are blamed for murdering 6 million Jews in gas chambers, which was of
course terrible. But does anyone talk of what the British did to Indians during their rule here ? It was 10
times worse, but no one talks of that.

I explained by giving a few examples. Before the British came to India, India was a prosperous country,
having over 30% of the world’s trade. By its end in 1947 it was reduced to only about 2%.

We had a massive handicraft industry in India, exporting huge amounts of cotton textiles, silk, spices etc
to the middle East and Europe. After the battle of Plassey in 1757 the British East India Company
established its direct rule over Bengal ( which then included Bihar, Orissa and Assam).

Within 40 years thereafter our exports almost stopped, because of the exorbitant export duty imposed
by the British, and was replaced by imports of British mill made goods on a large scale, with almost no
import duty. The immediate upshot of British rule was destruction of our massive industries, which
resulted in tens of millions of Indians becoming unemployed, many starving to death, tripling of the land
tax, and the devastating famine of 1770 which killed over 10 million people, one-third of the then
population of Bengal.

Two decades later, in 1793, the British Governor General, Lord Cornwallis, created the ‘permanent
settlement’, which resulted in British landlordism in India and dispossession of 20 million small farmers,
many of whom starved, or became beggars ,or criminals.

Famine became a regular feature during British rule, killing millions of Indians by starvation every 10
years or so. No doubt there were famines before the coming of the British too ( due to failure of rains),.
but these were ordinarily localised affairs, and the local kings used to store grain for such contingencies,
so there was far less suffering. People during such famines used to get less to eat, but few starved to
death. It was only during British rule that such horrors became a regular feature in India. In 1834 the
British Governor General, Lord William Bentinck, said ” The bones of the cotton weavers are bleaching
the plains of India “.

The man made Great Famine of Bengal of 1943, killed 3 million people in just one province of India,
Bengal, in just one year. During British rule, which lasted roughly from 1757 to 1947,over 100 million
Indians either died of starvation,or became beggars, criminals or scavengers.

Nobody talks of all this. Many, including the Germans I was talking to, did not even know about it. So the
British have got away with their horrible crimes, while the poor Germans are impaled.
After our conversation, there was a fantastic performance of Odissi dance by two dancers who had come
from Orissa, Ibrahim and Geetika. Ibrahim told me that he was dancing Odissi for 40 years, though he
looks young.

This was followed by an excellent dinner. On one side of the table were German dishes, while on the
other side were Indian ones. I ate at the German side, since I get Indian food to eat daily, but German
food is a rarity. The food, supervised by the Ambassador’s wife, Mrs. Eliese Steiner , was delicious.

The Ambassador graciously took me by the hand and led me to the German Foreign Minister, to whom
he introduced me.

It was a great evening, for which I am grateful to the Ambassador.