Hindu Colonizing United Arab Emirates
How did East India Companies “TRADE” with India paves the way for British Colonization of Subcontinent? Excerpts
“Concerned that the English were falling behind to the Dutch on these new trading routes, on the 31st December 1600 Queen Elizabeth I granted over 200 English merchants the right to trade in the East Indies. One of these groups of merchants called themselves Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies, later to become simply The East India Company.
Although these initial voyages turned out to be extremely profitable for the shareholders, increased competition in the mid-1600s made trading much more difficult. Wars, pirates and lower profit margins forced the Company to grow into new markets where competition was less fierce. It was during this time that the Company also decided that it could not compete with the more powerful Dutch East India Company in the trading of spices, so instead turned its attention to cotton and silk from India.
This strategy appeared to pay off, as by the 1700s the Company had grown so large that it had come to dominate the global textile trade, and had even amassed its own army in order to protect its interests. Most of the forces were based at the three main ‘stations’ in India, at Madras, Bombay and Bengal.
Although the forces of the East India Company were at first only concerned with protecting the direct interests of the Company, this was to change with the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Faced with a local uprising led by Siraj ud-Daula (with some French assistance!), the Company’s army led by Robert Clive quickly defeated the insurgents. However, this was to be a turning point for the Company and the following years saw it take full administrative powers over its territories, including the right to tax anyone living within its boundaries.
Although the 1600s and early 1700s saw the East India Company primarily focused on the trade of textiles, by the mid 18th century the Company’s trading patterns began to change. The reasons for this were two-fold.
Firstly, the industrial revolution had changed the way that the Company dealt with the textiles trade. Prior to this, highly skilled weavers were employed in India to make cottons and silks by hand. These light, colorful and easy to wear garments were popular amongst the fashionistas and upper classes of Britain.” [1]
In our times we notice that India is the second largest trading partner of UAE and this is impacting on how the UAE acts when it comes to Political matters. For example UAE issued mild statement when BJP Party’s Nupur Sharma insulted Prophet Muhammed (ﷺ), it only issued statement after Qatar and Kuwait already summoned Indian Ambassadors. [2] [3].
In this age Colonization is not Direct, it is indirect, it is economical, it is Cultural and India have already Colonized UAE where we see lot of Hindu’s based in openly insulting Islam and Muslims and UAE authorities take no action, not only that UAE Crown prince Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan even alleged to have said “Jai Shri Ram” which has become Hindutva Militants War cry. [4][5]
References:
1) https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-East-India-Company/
2) https://kpmg.com/ae/en/home/insights/2022/02/india-uae-bilateral-trade-and-investment-report.html
4) https://news.abplive.com/news/india/viral-sach-649930
5) https://www.investmentmonitor.ai/features/india-uae-relations-strong-fdi-investment/?cf-view
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