Member of Parliament, Shashi Tharoor is known for quoting Historical facts and when it comes to ‘How Indian Railways was laid’, he does justice with his eloquent explanation.
British for their own selfish motives constructed the railways at the expense of Indian taxpayers. Tharoor in his book “An Era of Darkness” quotes Lord Dalhousie as saying ‘the important role that India could play as a market for British goods and as a source of agricultural raw material for Britain would be facilitated by the Railways’.
Indians paid for the railways and the entire profit was made by the British. When one mile of Railways cost £18000 in India, in the United States the same mile at the same time cost £2000. Indians paid nine times they needed to pay and that money entirely went to the English, Tharoor adds.
He concludes by saying, ‘memory and remembrance are very important; let us know what our country went through for 200 years so we can be sure that it will never be repeated to our people, in other words – “Let us forgive but let us not forget”.’
Shashi Tharoor at Unacademy:
