Prominent Labour peer Thangam Debbonaire has called for the removal of a bronze statue of Robert Clive currently located near the Foreign Office in London. The East India Company official was a controversial figure in British colonial history in India.
“That statue continues to promote him in a victorious mode and as a symbol of something that had universal good… I don’t think it’s helpful for any visitor to the Foreign Office, particularly those of us from Indian origins in the diaspora, but also visiting Indian people, Indian dignitaries, ambassadors, trade ministers, to walk into the Foreign Office past that statue. I don’t think that presents Britain in a particularly good light in the 21st century,” Debbonaire reportedly stated. The Indian-origin former shadow culture secretary was speaking at the Edinburgh International book festival.
She has been quoted as stating, “What the statue doesn’t do is give any honesty about the impact of colonial rule on India. There is still a popular view held publicly across the UK of the empire as beneficial to its recipients.”
She added, “It’s not helpful for our current relationship with India and it is deeply unhelpful to see India as a country that Britain civilised.
The bronze statue designed by Scottish sculptor John Tweed was completed in 1912 and has Clive in a formal dress with one hand resting on a sword.
Known to be a ruthless military commander, Clive rose through the ranks of the East India Company and is often credited with expanding its presence in the subcontinent. He has been accused of plundering India and acquiring personal treasures.
In his book The Anarchy: The relentless rise of the East India Company, historian William Dalrymple refers to Clive as an “unstable sociopath”. He describes him as “violent, utterly ruthless and intermittently mentally unstable corporate predator.”
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In 2020 — when statues of historical figures with links to the British Empire came under threat during the Black Lives Matter protests — a public campaign had also demanded the removal of another Clive statue at Shrewsbury.
