On this
Independence Day, “Buy 2 get 1 free” HURRY! All of a sudden, eruptions
of sales, discounts and bonanzas especially on 15th of August sweep the
Indian market. Who is celebrating with us? They are foreign
“Multinationals”. There was a time when Britishers’ considered our
country their golden bird and we collectively despised their unfair
trade practices.
Earlier it was fair for them and unfair for us but now on the 63rd year of our Independence it is fair for both of us. So what exactly has changed? India was the biggest trading venture then, now it is the biggest partner. What is the contrast? Earlier it was Britain extracting cheap raw materials and even now the situation appears similar when they do outsourcing for cheap labour. As it has become a bit fashionable to say “I work for a British multinational.” Rules have changed, power has been transferred, yet the business remains the same.
Earlier it was fair for them and unfair for us but now on the 63rd year of our Independence it is fair for both of us. So what exactly has changed? India was the biggest trading venture then, now it is the biggest partner. What is the contrast? Earlier it was Britain extracting cheap raw materials and even now the situation appears similar when they do outsourcing for cheap labour. As it has become a bit fashionable to say “I work for a British multinational.” Rules have changed, power has been transferred, yet the business remains the same.
India and Britain share a historical association of over three centuries. And if
we revisit history we can recall that there had been many movements
associated with our Independence against the British colonial rule. One
of them, which is very distinctly registered in our minds is the Non
Co-operation Movement when our freedom fighters refused to buy British
goods and promoted indigenous goods and tried to uphold the values of
Indian honour and integrity. When Nehru gave the famous ‘Tryst with
Destiny’ speech, declaring India’s independence, the whole country
celebrated with great fervour. Even now we celebrate this historic event
but the contrast is that Britain from whom we got our
independence, is now celebrating with us. Someone has correctly said "History repeats itself” but if we look it in our Indian context, it will
be like “History does repeat itself but with added flavours of
Independent dependency.”