Baroness Debbonaire has requested the removal of Robert Clive's statue from outside the Foreign Office, arguing that it misrepresents history and harms diplomatic relations with India. Clive's role in establishing British rule in India and his involvement in the Bengal Famine of 1770, which resulted in millions of deaths, raises ethical concerns. The statue's imagery, depicting Indians as subservient, undermines India's historical advancements in engineering and trade, suggesting a narrative of British civilization that is not accurate. Such statues have faced scrutiny following the Black Lives Matter movement.
I'm not sure that a statue of Clive should really have any place outside the Foreign Office. I walk past it and the frieze shows happy, smiling people really delighted to see him.
It's not helpful for our current relationship with India and it is deeply unhelpful to see India as a country that Britain civilised.
That was closed down by an extractive colonising force. But what is pictured on that statue is tiny, tiny little Indians who are subservient and incidental to their own national story, and then a great big Clive.
Clive has been blamed for presiding over the Bengal Famine of 1770, which is thought to have killed up to ten million people.
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