How 'they' occupied India!!

Even in India, there are people who are of the opinion that the colonial British created the idea of a political union called India and provided the tools and institutions needed to hold the union together. However, we need to keep in mind a few points that the concept of “Bharatvarsha” was mentioned in the epic of Mahabharata and Bharata or India was described as a single cultural and also a large political entity. In famous ancient text of India the “Vishnu Purana” specifically describes this land as the ‘Varsha’ (which means piece of land) which is ‘Aasamudra Himachal’ i.e surrounded by Himalayas in the north and by sea in the south, so if anybody sees the map of India can easily relate to that. Then, under the emperor Ashoka in 300 BCE, large parts of the subcontinent enjoyed cultural and administrative unity. On the other hand, 200 years colonial rule did not unite the Indians, instead, they took every possible step to divide us, so that, it becomes easy for them to rule us. The Hindu caste system became more rigid and the communal lines between Hindus and Muslims deepened during British rule in India. Their cruel taxation system destroyed Indian economy and made Britain rich enough to prosper and rule a large portion of the globe as British colonies. Railways, post offices were established so that this large country may be properly administered by them and not for the welfare of the native Indians. We experienced the massacres like Jalianwalabag and deaths of millions of Indians in the man-made famines during the rule. Finally, at the time of leaving India the colonial masters partitioned the Indian subcontinent on communal lines in to India and Pakistan.

So, how the Britishers colonized India? The East India Company or the Company Bahadur or simply The Company was a British joint stock company, formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region. Finally, the Company ended up seizing control of a large part of the Indian subcontinent and colonized parts of South East Asia. The Company received a Royal Charter by the British Crown to operate trade activities in the Indies. Initially the focus of the Company was on trade only and not on building empire in India. But its intentions turned from trade to politics or more precisely in capturing territories during the eighteenth century, as the Mughal Empire declined. After the winning the Battle of Plassey by defeating the Nawab of Bengal, the Company got the right to collect revenues from Bengal and this was a major breakthrough by them in gaining control over the Indian subcontinent. By 1803 the Company had a private army which was almost double the size of the British Army. With the help of this private army which mainly had native Indians, the East India Company captured large portion of India and effectively started ruling India. However, their rule lasted till 1857, when the Indian Rebellion of 1857 happened. This was an uprising in India by a large section of the native Indian sepoys, against the rule of the Company. This was a major revolt also known as the first movement of Independence in India. Though the revolt was ultimately crushed by the Company by 1858, but this resulted in the British Crown assuming direct control of the subcontinent and this was the beginning of the British Raj in India.