British Rule in India

Colonialism was once viewed as a way to spread Enlightenment ideas globally. In reality, colonisers worldwide were highly oppressive, relentlessly exploiting their subjects, with British rule in India being no exception. Colonialism often distorted the values and ideals of care, compassion and empathy, the principles they supposedly aimed to advocate to promote human well-being. However, these very ideals of Enlightenment philosophy enabled colonial subjects to scrutinise and challenge their rulers, revealing their failure to uphold professed values. Indian nationalists used Enlightenment ideals as a tool in their fight for independence. Built on this backdrop, this argumentative text emphasises the contribution of British colonialism in the shaping of India’s primary politico-ideological priorities. The book reveals that constitutional liberalism evolved naturally in India, presumably because it was never regarded as an alien conceptual framework, even by the nationalists who fought fiercely to end colonialism.