I would argue that the British Raj was a good thing for the muslims in sub-continent because by the time of Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1850s, the Mughals were at their weakest and their decline had become inevitable.
If the british had not taken control of the sub-continent, then the Hindu Marathas in western india and sikhs in punjab would have become dominant force all over sub-continent and Muslims would have been forced to live under their Hindu Raj. I think that would have been even more disastrous for the muslims than the white man’s British raj?
The British raj filled that power vacuum at a crucial time in history, and allowed the muslims to regroup first under Sir Syed Ahmad khan’s leadership in the late 1800s and later the Quaid-e-Azam’s muslim league fought to ensure that muslims have Pakistan and the hindu baniyas don’t rule over the entire sub-continent
If we are talking about india after mughal decline. Muslims were leaving a vaccum and someone had to fill it. If not for the British, certainly the hindus would have done that. They had the majority in india and the muslims were on decline. Who else? Maybe there may be some small pockets of "states" like hyderabad etc. but on the whole the hindus would have taken over whole sub-continent.
The British raj gave us breathing space. Sir syed and iqbal and then quaid-e-azam got time to organize muslims and work for their educational training etc under the british raj. So within a 100 years muslims were able to establish a state of their own. If we had not got this space, our future would have been different.
Too many assumptions. yoon hota to kya hota, woon hota to kya hota.
You DON'T know what would have happened if Angrez had not come to the subcontinent. You are not a prophet.
I would say no need to thank Angrez for giving us the honor of enslaving us. What those great Muslim leaders accomplished was through their own hard work and struggle.
Point is that one looks just plain ridiculous when he starts singing 'thank you for enslaving us'.
Edit:
Oh, in case you did not realize. There is still a huge population of Muslims still living under Bharati rule. May be we need to call Angrez to come and enslave us again. May be that will free those Muslims?!
Ok. I have now said all that I had to say on this topic. If it is a religious issue for you then I know there is no point arguing.
Re: The British Raj in the sub-continent was a good thing for the muslims?
Indeed British Raj(I am talking about a post 1857 mutiny scenario) proved to be an excellent phase for Hindus in India.It was during this time the Hindus regrouped under cultural,social and religious visionaries.It was during this phase Hindus woke up and united as fellows of the same religion.
Had it not been British,India would have been scattered in to many pieces as many small states(countries),our cultural and religion would have been lost.Because our strongholds such as Maratha empire,and smll dots of other resistances were being vanished.Maratha had been completely devastated well before the early stages of the 19th century.A post 1857 scenario helped British to get more involved in Indian affairs and its vast rich and gorgeous culture.Th British put everything in order,instigated Hindu theorists and other philosophical leaders to come out and make a frame for the Neo Hinduism.
But sadly they abetted the creation of a country out of India.Apart from that the British Rajhad been instrumental in the creation of Neo India.
Still the matter of solace can be(as some people do quote and mention still) ,those who were loyal to India remained here and others left.But the subsequent years have proven that partition was a big failiure and the creation of a country in the name of a religion did not give safe roost to many who migrated and lived in that country.Whereas those who chose to remainin India continue to live happily and have ,at times, adorned the highest offices of the nation's governance. For ex: Dr.Abdul Kalam (The former president),Mr.Hamid Ansari(the current vice president)
