Towards a Political Economy of Colonialism

One should begin by distinguishing colonialism from previous constructions of empires and foreign conquests of countries. In those times transfers of wealth from one territory to another took place, usually when successful invading armies returned home with war booty, but these were transitory phenomena. Conquerors usually settled in the conquered territories, and obtained and spent their wealth there. This simple fact needs to be brought to the notice of our judiciary. In para 1611 of his voluminous Ayodhya judgement, Justice Sudhir Agarwal of the Allahabad High Court (Lucknow Bench) declared as if it was uncontested truth that ‘the Indian sub-continent was under the attack/invasion by outsiders for almost a thousand or more years in the past and had been continuously looted by them. Massive wealth continuously was driven off from the country.’ This is simple fiction: Whether it was the Sultans of Delhi or the Rays of Vijayanagara, whatever they looted they spent within the country.