To Revolt or Not to Revolt – a Sikh Perspective of the Indian Rebellion of 1857
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To revolt or not to revoltAs a Sikh Merchant, a somewhat successful one, I have concluded that we on should not rebel against the British. There is no clear thinking going on amongst the Sepoy, there is no clear reason, no proven basis to revolt against the British, we should be hard of hearing to these false gossipy tidbits. The success Ive encountered with my own finances and business, I cannot say would happen if the British were not here, theyve composed exchange courses, trade routes and connected the entirety of India, why rebel against the individuals who have in actuality enhanced my life? Above all, what is the genuine objective of this rebellion? On the off chance that you think that it was ever feasible for the Sepoys to really overthrow the mighty British, The only thing that it would achieve is the return of the Mughal Empire, the empire that has oppressed my kin, and persecuted my beliefs, we cannot ever give them a chance to take control, ever again. The mutineers are Hindus and Muslims fretting over newly introduced bullet-munitions with greased paper casings which have to be bitten off so that the bullet could be discharged, and the grease is rumored to be from cows and pigs! (Sikhing Answers) This is the sole motivation behind why this uprising has begun, nothing else. This is simply a religious and partisan argument. This is the same kind of thing that Hindus and Muslims have quibbled over for centuries. There is absolutely no more basis to this conflict than that, and certainly not over any concept of, or appreciation of the idea of independence, clearly there is nothing to fight for here. Infact according to a letter from George Barnes, Commissioner and Superintendent of the Cis-Sutlej states to Robert Montgomery, judicial commissioner for the Punjab, 5th February 1857, the soldiers didn’t even want their old non-bitten cartridges back, this just proves how there is actually no reason for this rebellion. (Contemporary Sources)
There are some who deny that the greasy guns were the only reason for this uprising. They say that this is happening because of how the British are taxing native Indians to an unfair extent especially on land. Those people fail to see what the British have done with those taxes. As someone who has a done a lot of business in Mumbai, I can tell you from my own experience the British has made a lot of investment in Infrastructure. Mumbai was 7 island, now it is one city, and one of our most important cities, they have literally filled the gaps to create an economic powerhouse. Not only this but the British, they built thousands of kilometers of railways making my trade a thousand times easier. (Quora)  Most importantly they have a created good and working judiciary system that solves crimes and issues justice. Do you think any of these will exist if we were to rebel against those who have given us all this? To be quite frank, I honestly believe I would not be the successful merchant I am today, If it was not for the British that connected the whole of India. Before the British came, we were just a organization of over 500 “princely states” fighting petty wars amongst each other, It was impossible to get anything done, or to trade with anyone other than just in your local area.  We are who we are today because of the British.