The Queen and us

The launch of a doll to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s 96th b’day, gets two passionate men talking about India’s colonial hangover

“The British royals are the symbolic face of Britain, not India”

India suffers from a huge colonial hangover. We are obsessed with fair skin. We get excited about the Oscars. Women follow Western standards of beauty. All this has come from our colonial experience and is now part of our thinking.

I don’t understand why, when we constantly talk about the invasion of the Mughals, we don’t talk about the British destruction of our heritage. The Mughals gave us monuments, food, music and so on. The British drained India economically, destroyed our gurukul system and divided us on the basis of religion. These are issues we still suffer from today. Yet, we are obsessed with what’s happening to Prince Harry, what happened with Princess Diana, and the Barbie doll based on

Queen Elizabeth II. The British royals are the symbolic face of Britain, not India. Why get excited about them?

Before the British colonised India, women did not change their last names after marriage. Now, most married women change their last names. In pre-colonial India, women could be warriors. Now it’s taken years for women to get into the Army! And Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code? This discriminated against all nonheterosexual sexualities and was introduced to India by the British.

It’s important to recognise history. We must not erase it by renaming places and monuments. But it’s even more crucial to look at history in the correct context.

“BEFORE THE BRITISH COLONISED INDIA, WOMEN DID NOT CHANGE THEIR LAST NAMES AFTER MARRIAGE.” — ONIR

“A BARBIE DOLL THAT LOOKS LIKE THE QUEEN WILL MAKE THE MONARCH OF A NATION A TOY IN THE HANDS OF YOUR OFFSPRING.” —ABBAS MOMIN