“It has been computed that every fifth man in Great Britain is dependent, either directly or indirectly, on our Indian connection for his livelihood.” ~ Geoffrey Tyson in his book Danger in India (Chapter 4, “Anti-British Discrimination”)
Tyson wrote his book in 1932. He was worried that if India became independent, Britain would lose its primary source of income, and then the British Empire would fall. He felt that the British Empire could not be sustained without income from India. He saw India’s independence movement as a grave threat to the existence of the British Empire.
He was terrified by Mahatma Gandhi’s call for “pruna swaraj” or total independence (Lokmanya Tilak was the first Indian leader to make this demand). In the same paragraph in his book, Tyson writes; “That being so it passes the comprehension of most thinking people why so little account has been taken of the dangerous forces which are every day gathering in India to destroy our trade and commerce.”
The British Empire was built on the wealth looted from India, not on the so-called Industrial Revolution. Once India was out of British control, no Industrial Revolution could save the Empire—Churchill knew this; that is why he was opposed to India’s independence. The British Empire died on August 15, 1947, the day India became independent.
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