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India’s Prime Minister Supports a Call for India to Be Compensated for British Colonial Rule

2 minute read

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has joined a chorus of support for lawmaker Shashi Tharoor, who gave a now viral speech speech in which he called for Britain to pay reparations to India for centuries of colonial rule.

To date, a video of the speech posted on YouTube has garnered almost 1.5 million views. The speech was recently delivered at the Oxford Union debating society in Oxford, England.

“Tharoor’s speech reflected the feelings of patriotic Indians on the issue and showed what impression one can leave with effective arguments by saying the right things at the right place,” Modi said at an event at the New Delhi Parliament on Thursday, the Guardian reports.

In his 15-minute speech, recorded in May, Tharoor attacked the U.K. for the negative economic and social repercussions its colonial rule over India had on the country.

“It’s a bit rich to oppress, enslave, kill, torture, maim people for 200 years and then celebrate the fact that they are democratic at the end of it,” Tharoor said in the speech. “What is required, it seems to me, is accepting the principle that reparations are owed.”

One columnist and publisher, Minhaz Merchant, calculated the reparations due to India at close to $3 trillion.

“I am very touched and grateful,” Tharoor apparently said in response to Modi’s praise, according to the Guardian.

Though Tharoor is part of the center-left opposition Congress Party, the direct competitor of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, he has been rather vocal of his support for Modi, the Guardian says. He was even stripped of his title as party spokesman last year by Congress Party leader, Sonia Gandhi, for speaking too favorably of Modi’s policies.

[Guardian]

See The History of US—India Relations in 12 Photos

US ARMY BASE IN DINJAN,INDIA
1942: The US held loose relations with "The British Raj" before Indian independence. Yet the Western nation did maintain an Airfield base in Dinjan,India during this time. (Photo by Ivan Dmitri/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)Ivan Dmitri—Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
Truman Greets Nehru
1949: Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru takes his first trip to the US and meets with President Harry S. Truman in Washington, Oct. 11, 1949. PhotoQuest/Getty Images
Dwight Eisenhower, Jawaharlal Nehru
1959: US President Dwight D. Eisenhower makes the first official state visit to India’, joining Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at the Taj Mahal at Agra, India on Dec. 13, 1959.AP
A US plane dropping supplies to Indian troops, during the border war with Red China.
1962: The Kennedy Administration openly supported India during the Sino-Indian War. The US Air Force flew in arms and aid to Indian troops on the Chinese border, Nov. 1, 1962.Larry Burrows—The TIME & LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Richard Nixon, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
1973: In the early 70s, America's relationship with India deteriorated as the Nixon administration became close allies with Pakistan, viewing India as an ally of the Soviet Union. Here, President Nixon meets with Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan in the oval office of the White House in Washington on Sept. 18, 1973. AP
Jimmy Carter, Morarji Desai, Rosalynn Carter
1978: When the anti-Soviet Janata Party came to power in the late 70s, Indian relations with the US began to improve. President Jimmy Carter visited Indian Prime Minister Morarji Desai in New Delhi in 1978.Charles Harrity—AP
Rajiv Gandhi;Ronald W. Reagan
1987: In the 1980s, the Reagan Administration began to provide limited aid to India and eventually defense technology such as combat aircraft and naval engines. President Ronald W. Reagan met with India's Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in Washington on Oct. 1 1987.Diana Walker—The TIME & LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Indian Nuclear test site
1998: India began nuclear testing in Pokhran in 1998, despite strong condemnation from the US. President Bill Clinton imposed economic sanctions against India.T.C. Malhotra—Getty Images
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (
2005: After the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the US worked closely with India to strategically monitor the Indian Ocean and Suez Canal to Singapore. Here, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Humayun's Tomb in New DelhiPrakash Singh—AFP/Getty Images
INDIA-ASIA-QUAKE-TSUNAMI
2004: The US and Indian navies cooperated on rescue efforts after the Dec. 2004 tsunami that affected the Indian subcontinent. AFP/Getty Images
US President Barack Obama inspects a gua
2010: India-US relations became strained during the Obama Administration due to its policies on insurgents in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Pedro Ugarte—AFP/Getty Images
India's Prime Minister Modi speaks at Madison Square Garden in New York
2014: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks at Madison Square Garden in New York City on his first visit to the US as Prime Minister, after his US visa had been revoked and reinstated. Lucas Jackson—Reuters

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