India to ask Britain to return of treasures priceless Koh-i-Noor diamond used in Crown Jewels

a reply to: putnam6

One man's aid is another man's reparations

Reparations for what and for who exactly?

a reply to: Zanti Misfit

The Falklands belong to They Who Want it Enough .

Obviously that would be the people who live there, and have done for generations, and who want to express their Right to Self-Determination.....and remain British.

Of course Argentina could always try to take them by force again but I think their armed forces are in an even worse state now than they were back then.
And I don't think the present Argentinian government is that unpopular that it needs to engage in a diversionary armed conflict in order to distract attention away from their own incompetence and failures.

Send them back, I could give no f***s. The jewels mean nothing to me and, apparently, everything to them.

To you India, sorry we f***ed you up about them.

*Tired sigh*
Ok, a few facts are needed here. The Koh-i-Noor was originally a part of the Mughal Peacock Throne that Nader Shah looted from Delhi in 1739 and there are a hell of a lot of different possible origin stories for it. In other words we really don't know where it came from.
Anyhoo, it ended up being almost literally traded about between multiple states and kingdoms, before ending up in the Punjab, in the possession of one Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh Empire. When he died in 1839 politics in the Punjab became positively poisonous, with a lot of very convenient deaths (I'm talking about assassinations really).
The First and Second Anglo-Sikh wars followed, with the Sikhs being defeated in both, and being annexed after the second war. The Treaty of Lahore gifted the Koh-I-Nor to the British.
There are something like four countries (India, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan) that claim ownership of the bloody thing. Frankly I rather think that the chances of Britain giving it up are diddly/squat, as the last legal owner (Punjab) is no longer a sovereign nation.

Hoping that the UK will demand the return of the Bayeux Tapestry from France.

originally posted by: paraphi
Hoping that the UK will demand the return of the Bayeux Tapestry from France.

Well, the King is the Duke of Normandy, so that would actually make sense...
(Yes, I know, the Duchy of Normandy now only really cover the Channel Islands, but still, it's a great title!)

In a total change of pace on this thread - I'd like to introduce you all to the Indian movie called Bang Bang

It's one of those 'classic' new Bollywood action movies full of songs, romance, machismo and ridiculousness and centres around the theft of the Koh-i-Noor diamond from the Crown Jewels. I won't give any spoilers (the Wikipedia article does though) but there are some (or many/more) twists ... Enjoy.

The full movie is on YouTube in Hindi with English Subtitles:

NVM

a reply to: vNex92

India should take Rishi Sunak back

The thing is the guy is from Southampton.

So there goes your racist nonsense I'm afraid.

a reply to: andy06shake

His a clown no matter if its Truss or Boris Johnson.

The only thing missing is a photo op.

No different from Tony Blair...

a reply to: vNex92

I wholeheartedly agree, but he's not an Indian clown, but a British one, born and bred.

As to him being like Tony Blair, well i don't think anybody is accusing him of war crimes just yet.

originally posted by: Freeborn
a reply to: putnam6

One man's aid is another man's reparations

Reparations for what and for who exactly?

How long was India under British Colonial rule again?

www.bbc.com...

Indian economy
At the beginning of the 18th Century, India's share of the world economy was 23%, as large as all of Europe. By the time the British departed India, it had dropped to less than 4%.

The reason was simple: India was governed for the benefit of Britain. Britain's rise for 200 years was financed by its depredations in India.

By the end of the 19th Century, India was Britain's biggest cash-cow, the world's biggest purchaser of British exports and the source of highly paid employment for British civil servants - all at India's own expense. We literally paid for our own oppression.

and that's from the BBC

Even as a dumb self-centered American I knew of the Brits and India's situation based on our school system and the movie Ghandi. I was reminded again when more than a few Indians, were pleased about the Queen's recent passing were they not?

Also as a dumb self-centered white and male-privileged American Ive been told at the very least to listen to the grievances of others and try to understand their point of view, to dismiss it offhandedly is just a further insult to the aggrieved.

Not to mention over the years have worked with a number of people from Bhārat, and almost all of them were full of integrity and intelligence and were generally a pleasure to work with. I spoke with them enough to get thier point of view and it did make me wonder if Britain's plans for the US colonies were the same as what occurred in India.

Regardless, reparations for India aren't exactly a new topic, whether we agree or not. I find the topic interesting and since the US has had its own murmurings of reparations, it will interesting to see if this is resolved, or if it is left to simmer.

a reply to: putnam6

So. you're a fan of reparations are you?
You reap what you sow my friend.

You do know a little of the history of India I assume.
The British Empire was responsible for some awful deeds.
Not trying to make excuses but it was the way of the world back then, and I guarantee India fared far better under British rule that it would have done under the other colonial powers of the day like Spain, France, Germany, Belgium etc.
And it probably suffered far worse at times before British rule under the many Empires etc that ruled their over millennia.

And The British Empire also did a lot of good, invested incredible amounts in the regions infrastructure, its abolition of practices like Sati and the caste system etc.

I never thought you would fall into the trap of judging the acts of yesterday by the morals and standards of today.

As for Gandhi; A hypocrite of the highest order.
A massive supporter of apartheid who believed Black people are sub-human and barely better than cattle and sheep.

I am good friends with many first, second and even third generation Indian people.

India has had nearly 80 years of independence yet still many of the truly awful injustices continue, but sre, its all those bastard Brits fault.

Bollocks to reparations.
Not going to happen.

a reply to: putnam6

At the beginning of the 18th Century, India's share of the world economy was 23%, as large as all of Europe. By the time the British departed India, it had dropped to less than

And in the 11th Century Indias share of the world economy was 58%. By the time the 18th Century arrived it was 23%.

So who is responsible for that even greater drop ? Funny how people like to pick and choose figures.

a reply to: ketsuko

Oh come now. Don't you know that white Europeans are the only people to ever have taken land, been aggressors or started wars? And white Americans were the only people to ever have slaves? Those are the only ones we are allowed to be mad at.

a reply to: andy06shake

Does this mean I can stop calling black people born and raised in America, African Americans?

a reply to: SideEyeEverything

I'm not quite sure, but if i was you, i would just stick with calling them people.

And not worry too much as to their ethnicity or colour.

if it took Scotland 650 years to get the stone of destiny back then there's # all chance ae India getting a diamond back

Also ive seen this argument a lot on instagram about artifacts and national treasures "looted" or taken for study by the British or evil white europeans

All those artifacts taken by explorers etc all stored in museums for research to develop historical research etc
say what you like about Britain and the bloody dirty thieving bastards they used to be , but I can guarantee that we wouldnt have half the understanding of world civilisations if it weren't for the artifacts being taken away. for study by British explorers , historians or the rest of the evil white Europeans

if it wasnt for the British taking them for study or "looting" them for study then they'd have been destroyed by religious zealots or sold off to the black market decades ago by the countries that cry for them today.

I had a back and forth with a guy from Africa about this , and eventually I got so annoyed at him for his laziness I emailed the Scottish national museum myself and asked the process on repatriation of cultural artifacts from his country.
Emailed him the response. never heard back from him. I guess you talk aww the #e ye like but when it comes to putting the work in they shut up.

Im chalking this yin up to , we have a prime minister of Indian descent in charge , and Indian want to demand some #
kind of like how they got 2.3 billion without any evidence of it affecting poverty.
Im guessing cash just got sent there for the sake of it

kind of like how tax payers money wanders into the hands of the bank or through nepotism finds its way into teh hands of the friends of politicians .

I say sell the diamond back to India , once its evaluated , if they really want it they can buy it back , use the money to fix some housing in the UK or , NHS , or generate more jobs.