How many Indians died in the genocides committed by the British Raj?

In Memoriam: In memory of the countless millions of Indians who perished in the genocides conducted by their British tormentors. You shall not be forgotten.

Approximate Number of Indians Killed by the British

Cause of Deaths	Number of Deaths	Comments
British-made Famines	85 million (approximately)	Please see Appendix I for a detailed breakup with references. For an  explanatory article on the famines click here.
Epidemics induced by Famines	Information is being gathered	–
Anglo-Indian Wars[i]	Information is being gathered	–
Indians Killed fighting for the British	Information is being gathered	–
Freedom Fighters martyred by the British	Information is being gathered	–

A   short poem in memory of the dead:

You Shall not be Forgotten

Voices of the past call out to us,

“Remember us, Remember us!”

 

Each voice has a tale to tell,

Of English “humanity” and “justice”.

 

With a heavy heart I hear their tales of woe,

“Stabbed with an English bayonet was I!”

“I was raped and left to die!”

“Dying of hunger, I was left to rot,

While my crops provided fodder for the English horse!”

“Did you see my village?

The firangis burnt it down in 1857.”

“I sold myself to save my child.”

There is no end to the mountain of grief,

Which befell our people in times gone by.

 

“There is no justice in this world,” they say in a voice,

“But let not our memories wither away,

What is more   cruel than to be forgotten by one’s own?”

“Remember us, Remember us!”

 

“Your memory shall be kept alive!”I say to them,

“On our shoulders the burden rests,

For we shall not let your memory fade!”

 

A brief Note on the rationale behind conducting this count…

 

“How many Indians were killed off by the British Raj?”

This   deceptively simple question was asked by a gentleman in the Bharat Rakshak forum. This got me thinking, “Surely there has to be a tally of the number of Indians killed by the British?” After all haven’t other mass genocides like that of the Jews by Nazi Germany been documented? A simple internet search will give you   estimates on how many Jews died in the Holocaust.

So why isn’t there any information on the total number of Indians killed off by the British in their “civilising” wars, manmade famines etc? Why have the “eminent” historians who set our educational syllabuses from their ivory towers in JNU (Jawaharlal University, Delhi) not brought out a simple tally of the Indians killed due to British imperialism? Have they done anything other than being Congress cronies and apologists for the Islamic mob? There is no surprise on their studied silence on British atrocities in India. After   all some of the more “eminent” historians owe their   sustenance and publicity to their lords overseas.

For the British government it is imperative that only the so called “positive” aspects of their tyranny in India are highlighted. Who would   want to own up to being responsible for multiple genocides?

At the end of the Second World War, a completely shattered Germany was forced to publicly atone for its war crimes. But the British pulled out of India completely intact, hence there was no “pressure” on them to repent for their genocides in India. Additionally, British academics and historians have played a pivotal role in denying outright or defending the role of their ancestors in the genocide .For e.g. take  the case of our First war of Independence of 1857.It is only recently that the Indian viewpoint has begun to emerge (“Operation Red Lotus” is a book I would recommend). For more than 150 years after the event the British version dominated mainstream narration of history.

Similarly in the case of other “Made in Britain” disasters, such as the terrible famines which hit India from 1768 till 1943 CE ( the last one occurred only four years before they left India in 1947 CE), British academia and their “brown sahibs” in India continually try to deny the British role in the deaths of millions. Case in point is   the Wikipedia entry for “Famines in India”. The lowest estimate of deaths is usually presented as the true one and every effort is made to absolve the British of the blood on their hands. One wonders who is editing those entries and why aren’t our people turning out in force to tell our version of history?

But the body of evidence regarding the deliberate murder of millions in the “good” times of the British Raj continues to pile up. It is heartening to see more and more mainstream books coming out outlining in detail the racist and deliberate policies pursued by British which directly led to the genocide of millions of Indians.

I am neither   a historian nor anything of that sort. I try to live by two principles in life: “Truth” and “Justice”. As far as the telling of our history is concerned, none of these two principles is present. This is my humble attempt to keep the memories of those who have passed away alive.

I have made a start on this long journey of compiling the number of our dead from a variety of different sources. The task is mind numbing and very painful for me personally, but it must be done.

I have started off with populating the total number of Indians killed in British-Made famines. As I populate each section I will add an Appendix which gives a detail break up with references and a short note from me. Each of the other casualty figures will be populated as I gather more information.

वन्दे मातरम्

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[i] I believe the term “Anglo-Indian” war has been coined by Parag Tope in his book “Operation Red Lotus” for the war of 1857.However I have appropriated it to cover all the wars from the beginning of East India Company till the final suppression of large scale resistance in 1858 CE.