Britain is still living in the imperial past, or so it seems, else the island nation wouldn’t have dared to criticize India and ISRO’s space scientists on the spectacular success of Chandrayaan-3’s soft landing on moon’s south pole. This soft landing on the lunar south pole is a first in world, something that even the self-proclaimed space super powers US, China and Russia had failed to do after repeated attempts. Ironically, even Britain knows that ISRO’s achievement is too big, yet rather than applaud Britishers have resorted to nitpicking.
Patrick Christys, news anchor of Britain’s GB News stated in his program that “I would like to invite India to return £2.3 billion foreign aid money that we sent them between 2016-2021. Also said to give them £57 billion next year but I think that the British taxpayers should keep a hold of that. Don’t you? We should not be giving money to the countries that have space program as I rule, if you can afford to fire a rocket to the darker side of the moon, you shouldn’t be coming to us with your hands out.”
Similarly, the BBC that has a reputation of running anti-India propaganda campaigns tried to steer the narrative to fulfill its agenda. During a news show, a BBC anchor asked: “Should India which lacks in Infrastructure and has extreme poverty, should they be spending this much amount of money on a space program.”
This is how propaganda works. GB News journo raking up the issue of British aid is fabricated and false. The fact remains that this was being talked about in 2012 when the Indian government rejected British aid, calling it peanuts. After 2015, India is receiving no aid from Britain on the grounds of poverty alleviation. The funds that Patrick Christys is talking about are ‘developmental aid’. The funds were provided to support the 2030 UK-India roadmap objectives. Simply put the British government is spending these funds to facilitate its economic and geopolitical interests in the Indian subcontinent !
It’s worth noting that in 2017, the Indian government made it categorically clear that India is giving more aid to the countries across the world than what it is receiving. Probably the British journalists need to brush up their knowledge of current affairs.
Now coming to the question of poverty, it is well known that India was a rich country until the Britishers set foot. The Britishers plundered $48 trillion from India during their colonial rule. This monetary drain from India to UK degraded India’s economy. So, India’s poverty is a direct result of British Imperialism.
In fact, India’s poverty alleviation program has shown tremendous results. Recent reports suggest that around 13.5 crores (135 million) people have escaped multidimensional poverty during the five years between 2015-16 to 2019-21. Notably, this time period includes the devastating Covid-19 pandemic.
These facts can only be analysed when someone wants to do so. The British media platforms don’t even bother to take a glimpse on data and facts, probably because of their pseudo superiority complexes and jealousness. These racist bigots have time and again proven that they consider themselves superior to the entire human race. And this presumption comes from their imperialist mentality. It’s hard for Britishers to think of a developed India when their own economy is crumbling.
Also, the illogic behind such an argument raises questions about their cognitive abilities. Well, if India should not spend on space missions due to poverty, and if the sole responsibility of such missions lies with the developed countries then why has Britain never reached the moon? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate for the British media to ask this question from their own government? They won’t do it.
Further, the during Covid pandemic, when India’s 13.5 crore (135 million) people escaped poverty, UK’s economy was devastated. The situation is so worse that they Britain had to postpone the coronation ceremony of King Charles, while India has emerged as the fifth largest economy in the world.
There is a basic difference between the attitude of India and UK. India is an ancient civilization with an illustrious past and a bright future. Britain’s history is of plunder, loot and destruction. Despite this Britishers never give up on their false sense of pride. On the other hand, India is a country that remains polite even at the time of greatest achievement. This was visible after the success of Chandrayaan-3, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation. Modi clearly said that this achievement is not only India’s achievement rather it’s the achievement of humanity and the whole world, which is a single family.
It’s time for the British media to give up their superiority complex, wake up and smell the coffee! When Britain was an imperial power all she did was exploit every country’s natural resource which was the prime reason for her economic dominance. Alas this is not the case now. Britain’s former colony, India, is a free country that has control over her resources and if India chooses to enter the elite space program and succeed in soft landing on the lunar south pole then Britishers could ask for some guidance from the Indian scientists. India is known for her generosity!