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Source: The post is based on an article “Why India needs to stop participating in Commonwealth Games” published in the Indian Express on 6th August 2022.
Syllabus: GS 1 History; History of Modern India; G2 International Relations; Bilateral Relations
Relevance: Colonial Power; Neo-colonialism
News: The 2022 edition of the Commonwealth Games is being held in Birmingham, UK and athletes from 72 nations and territories are participating in the sports event.
History of Commonwealth Games (CWG)
Queen Elizabeth is the head of the Commonwealth. The CWGs are part of the Commonwealth. The CWGs were once known as the British Empire Games (BEG). Later on, it came to be known as the British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Further, it was renamed the British Commonwealth Games.
What is wrong with the very idea of the Commonwealth Games (CWG)?
Historical Reasons
The 72 nations and territories that are participating in the 2022 edition of the Commonwealth Games, were once colonized by the British. As a result of this colonization, Britain took our wealth and led to the impoverishment of colonies like India. Hence, our “commonwealth” is now British wealth.
The natives of these colonies were subjugated, civilized, and then disciplined with devices like the Indian Penal Code, 1860.
From India’s perspective, as per some experts, the East India Company and the British Raj siphoned out nearly $44.6 trillion from India over a rough period of 200 years, i.e., 1765 to 1938, etc.
As per the experts, India’s per capita consumption of food grains went down from 200 kg in 1900 to 157 kg on the eve of the Second World War. The major reason for the impoverishment of India can be owed to the British practices of greedy taxation. For example, The British East India Company first got revenue collecting rights in Bengal in 1765, and it promptly tripled the tax revenue from Bengal. Thus, Bengal faced a massive famine in 1770.
During WWII, Former British PM Winston Churchill’s wartime colonial policies resulted in the Bengal famine of 1943. India was forced to pay for British defense expenditure, above what was already paid in peacetime. Further, the British kept presses in India working overtime to print Indian rupees during this time, pushing up inflation and making food more expensive in India.
Contemporary reasons
In 2019, when the then British Prime Minister Theresa May, was pressed in parliament to apologize to colonies, on the country’s behalf, she expressed her “regrets” but refused to apologize.
Further, Britain has established a terrible immigration policy, which intertwines with its colonial past.
In the Commonwealth, the closest relationships with Britain are still enjoyed by the settler countries, where British citizens went to settle. For Example, Australia, Canada & New Zealand.
What should be done?
The government should establish a museum to memorialize the grief and loss during British rule on lines of those already present. Like a private museum to Partition in Amritsar, and a memorial to the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
The government should commission the writing of a good economics textbook that can teach our young about the colonial-era impoverishment of India.
The government and sports ministry should support participation in other games and contests.
