The above mentioned article on 1857 is as limited and biased in its scope as those written by
British historians describing 1857 as a “Sepoy Mutiny”. Though the exact events of 1857 are
important to understand, it is even more important to contextualize 1857 in today’s India.

It is a highly misrepresented fact that it was the feudal lords and “Rajwadas” who fought during
1857, such wrong perceptions have been perpetuated by pop-history readings such as “Amar Chitra
Katha” etc. Other mis representations have been made by over playing the issue of greased
cartridges. The fundamental reasons for the outbreak of war were much different.

Very Briefly:
In the first place: 1857 was a peasant rebellion, the underlying cause was the increasing land
settlement laws being introduced by the British. Before these laws, land was an inalienable right
and the feudal lords and the king had only rights over revenue collection. By introducing the
principle of “Eminent Domain” the British had in one stroke reversed centuries of security over
land tenure granted to the peasant. The principle of “eminent domain” declares the “ownership” of
all land to reside in the crown, thereby allowing the eviction of rightful owners from their
land, with only the need to pay due compensation. The growing insecurity of the peasantry over
the probable loss of land quickly engulfed the regions of North India and even bringing the
sepoys into the fray. After all even the sepoys were from the peasantry. In fact the term,
“National Rebellion” was used for the first time in the British Parliament debates where the
attempts by the ruling parties to underplay the uprising as a simple “mutiny” were contested.

In the second place: it was only after the initial success of the peasantry and the sepoys that the
feudal estates such as Jhansi came into play. You are right in this matter, that for most of the
feudal estates, it was a struggle against the increasing strangle hold of the British and to
retain their dominion.

In the third place and most the important point, is to be able to understand and place 1857
within the context of our current era. There is little point in us celebrating 1857, if it does
not carry some relevance for us today.

The most important lesson that we can get from readings on 1857 is the “institutionalization of
traitors”. Traitors have always been the part and parcel of history, be it Jai Chand or Mir
Jaffer, but eventually they get relegated to a foot note of history. It is only after 1857, we
can clearly find, that those who sided with the British in defeating the Indians were
felicitated, given appointments in administration, business contracts, judiciary, land, zamindari,
princely tutelage, provided secure residences (the concept of “civil lines” came up only after
1857). The lesson to be learnt is that it is this class of traitors who first of all took sides
with the British in defeating our people also took over as the rulers of India, post 1947. Though
we can directly trace numerous families such as the Scindias and numerous other “Maharajas” who
continue to rule India even today. All such families who claim the title “Maharaja” were those
who either continued to sit quietly on the sidelines or they actively supported the British in
quelling the rebellion and for that favour, were bestowed with numerous privileges by the British.
It is this class of traitors who enabled the British to rule over India for the next 90 years and
it is these very same families who continue to rule as “Black British” even today.

If we see the economic, social and political policies of our current times we can see that they
favour the developed and nations at the cost of the Indian polity. In each and every point of
intervention, whether it is the support for multi national corporations to find India a point of
cheap labor, or the development of SEZs (tax and customs duty free zones), or recent shameful
statements by Man Mohan Singh in Oxford, where he praised colonial rule over India! Lets take a
small case to explain: It is India’s open iron ore export policy which is enabling Mittals and
TATAs to buy European steel mills. Since European mines are now almost depleted and will soon
lead to a closure of the steel mills in Europe their mills are up for grabs. The terms of sale
inset on the buyer showing a guaranteed supply of iron ore. So TATA and the Mittals have bought
Corus and Arcelor, with the assurance given by the Indian government that they will be given
captive mines for exporting ores in Orissa!! Great news, first the Europeans colonized us and
raped us and our economy, now that their economy is facing a meltdown, here comes the native
cavalry to their support. How are all these insane policies being implemented? Why must Delhi
never be cleaned for its citizens, but more than 300000 slum dwellings be broken for beautifying
Delhi for the 2010 Common Wealth Games, it is a shame and a blot on the nation’s people.

Traveling down U.P., Bihar, M.P., Haryana, A.P. and almost any other corner of India one has to
only see the manner in which the policemen treat the “poorer natives” of this country, exactly as
they did during the British Colonial era, the same goes for the administration and the Judiciary. It is quite common to see the police hanging working class people upside down and beating the soles of their feet, false encounters, custodial rape and deaths, false cases being framed..these remnants of the Raj still continue and are being perpetuated by the same class of people who traditionally sided with the stronger side and oppressed the weak.

It is by reading 1857 and contextualizing it within the ills that plague India today, that we can clearly see that the roots of this oppressive and anti-people administration, development policies and continuing poverty lie within these current ruling classes who have traditionally learnt to fear the strong and oppress the weak, just as they did during 1857.

I wish I could kiss this guys hands- it is the first time someone has said exactly what I wanted to say without even knowing me