Right-wing outfit Hindu Sena on Tuesday paid tribute to Queen Victoria on her 118th death anniversary, claiming that she “freed India from the autocratic rule of the Mughals”, PTI reported. Victoria, the queen of Britain and Ireland from 1837 until her death in 1901, adopted the title Empress of India in 1876.
“India would have disintegrated into thousands of pieces had it not been the Britishers, who under the Queen, united a large number of princely states into one entity in 1857,” Hindu Sena Vice President Surjeet Yadav said after the event at Jantar Mantar. “The Britishers gave what we have today, be it the law, railways, roads, communication networks, schools. The Britishers did not destroy our temples like the others did.”
Yadav claimed that freedom fighters like Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru could protest against British rule only because it was not autocratic. “They gave Indians the first taste of freedom by allowing local self-governance in 1882.”
The Hindu Sena leader claimed that the British Army did not practise caste discrimination. “The British formed the Mahar regiment,” he said. “Earlier, in Bengal presidency, only people belonging to upper castes were allowed to enlist in the Army. If there is a gentlemen race in the world, it is the British.”
The Hindu Sena has also been celebrating the birthday of United States President Donald Trump on June 14 for the last two years.
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