India Independence and Partition

Every August 15, India celebrates her independence. It was on August 15, 1947 India received her independence, and India was also partitioned at the time into Pakistan and present day India. Pakistan consisted of two parts. East Pakistan later became Bangladesh. King George VI held the title of King of India until the early days of 1950, whereas Queen Elizabeth II held the title of Queen of Pakistan until 1956, inheriting the sovereign title from her father George VI.

There was no Coronation Durbar for George VI. Nor was there one for Edward VII – needless to say. There was one in 1903, and one in 1911, however.

It was on George V's coronational visit to India the move of the capital from Calcutta to Delhi, eventually creating New Delhi as the thus far last city within the city of cities, Delhi.

Yours truly has paid two visits to the Coronation Park in Delhi. The first one was in August 2005. The Daily Telegraph reported later that same year that the park was to be refurbished.

Yours truly's second visit was in November of 2008, about two weeks before the Bombay attacks (yes, it's Bombay – and it's Trondhjem, not Trondheim, for that matter). That second visit was a far cry from the first. The first visit was a visit to an abandoned place, where a few locals were sitting waiting for tourists to “guide,” whereas the area was a bit crowded during the November 2008 visit, as the video shows.

Yours truly could not see much renovation from his first to his second time. There was no need for grass to be taken care of the second time though. Also, they sure have taken it into use. There was some bad language written on one of the pedestals. So taking it into use is not necessarily a positive change. The reader is spared the photo of the bad language.

Yours truly was – when taking photos – sarcastically asked by some children if he [George V] was his grandfather. One can imagine the propaganda fed to these kids by teachers and their family elders.

As we can see, there is some potential for a more well kept park.

Perhaps putting the Coronation Park in order really will take off up to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 2010? There is a huge construction project going on for expansion of the Delhi metro system. This may make the Coronation Park a more accessible attraction, and it may help to bring it into the light.

We must, however, remember that the statue of George V stood at India Gate until the 1960s. Now it is stowed away.

Time will tell if India can come to terms with her British heritage.

An exhibition yours truly visited at the Supreme Court Museum – The Trial of Bhagat Singh – suggested that there is a long way to go.

There are no photos from the exhibition itself, as photography in the museum is strictly prohibited.

Here is some of what the exhibition said:

Only after India gained independence, it was subjected to the rule of law in a modern sense. A new Constitution was put in place that combined the principles of liberal democracy with socialist aspirations of general equality and welfare. Indeed, the use of constitutional law was intended to reach a wide societal compromise.

Today, we take our freedom for granted only because it is our fundamental right protected by our Constitution. We are free, because our judicial system led by the Supreme Court of India is the guardian and guarantor of that freedom. In spite of undeniable difficulties, it is clear that it has not failed to serve the nation and that it is precisely the reason why Judiciary in India is held in high esteem. Its integrity being the basis of its power. It relentlessly performs to fulfill the expectations of the society while upholding the rule of law and impartial justice to all.

Also, we could read:

When World War I broke out in Europe, Ghadrites decided to return to India [from Canada and the U.S.] with the object of liberating India from British slavery through armed struggle and to establish a National Government on the basis of equality and justice.

The trial of Bhagat Singh is as much a story of revolution in India as the farcical system of law and justice under the British rule.

And also:

They are ever anxious to devise new forms of treachery. We are eager to see what limits there are to oppression.

It is interesting. It sounds a lot like the Animal Farm attitude. British rule bad, self-rule good. No recognition of any good British heritage in their present system.

If the new regime can always point to the British and the liberation from British rule as freedom, they can perhaps more easily justify the new regime's own actions.

With all the bureaucracy and other interventions that comes from the Indian “self-government,” proving that the new Indian regime is not freedom should not be the hardest task in the world.

Moreover, the way terrorists of the Indian independence movement are glorified, it should come as no surprise that India has problems with terrorists.

The late Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn wrote about anti-colonialism in his Leftism Revisited. Not only did he deplore the decline that end of colonial rule often represented, but he also stressed that the end of colonialism took place in an era where republicanism was in high esteem. Not a good combination.

Let us remember that it was Indian independence and republicanism that put an end to the Princes of India.