British not to blame for India’s ‘war on children’
Re: “Rest of the world always knew Churchill was a villain”, Opinion/Features, February 20.
Shashi Tharoor, the author of this article, is part of a new global wave that is attempting to rewrite history in the way they want to see it today.
The strategy is to remove history, statues and buildings of the past so that the future will be based solely on their revisionist, angry and moralist writings, which blame today’s problems on the past.
So easy!
Granted, some of the issues mentioned in Tharoor’s attack on Churchill did in fact occur. But Tharoor should have the honesty to also state that, had Churchill and the British not shown immense courage to hold on for an extra three weeks against Hitler, everyone in Europe would now be speaking German and likely be under fascist rule. Have the courage to tell the whole story, if only to respect all the people – British, French, Canadians, Australians, Americans, the 28 million Russians, and so many more – who gave their lives with courage and honour to free the world.
You cannot blame the British for what is happening today in your country, India: the barbaric horror of children being abused and murdered at an unbelievable rate, which is only matched by statistics for the rape of women. (In India, a rape occurs every 20 minutes, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau.)
Maybe Tharoor could turn the energy of his anger towards a more responsible rewrite of India’s present plight, to achieve an end to what I call a perpetual war on children.
Living in the past is like being a tourist; living in the present and for the future is taking responsibility for our world and not blaming the past!
Tharoor’s book “What the British Did to India” should have a sequel – “What the Indians Do to India”.
Alexandre de Lesseps
Hong Kong
