On 29th September 2026, British Christian priest and public commentator, Calvin Robinson, posted a video on his personal YouTube channel titled ‘India Deserved to be colonized’. In this monologue, Robinson asserted British colonial rule in India was justified, positioning his arguments through the frame of the Christian values and moral reform. Citing colonial era accounts of sati, the caste system and untouchability, Robinson presents pre-British era India as an uncivilised, dirty and violent place. Indians he argues, benefitted from the reforms grounded in Christian teachings of equality, charity and universal brotherhood.
On 15th October, British Hindu scholar, author and interfaith leader; Pandit Satish K Sharmaji, provided a historical and theological rebuttal to Robinson’s controversial claims on the YouTube channel of @theopolitica. Deconstructing the long-standing “civilising mission” narrative, Pandit Satish K Sharmaji exposes the fundamental flaws in Robinson’s arguments. He examines how theological ideals are frequently weaponised to excuse systemic colonial extraction, racial subjugation, and historical atrocities ranging from the brutal reprisals of 1857 and chattel slavery to the devastating 1943 Bengal Famine and the tragedy of Partition. Pandit Satish K Sharma ji also sheds light on the deliberate misrepresentation of indigenous traditions like Sati, illustrating how colonial records often magnified isolated instances to fabricate moral justification for imperial domination. Highlighting the genuine contributions of indigenous Hindu civilisation including mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and Sanskrit scholarship he honours native reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy who drove authentic social progress from within, completely independent of imperial intervention.
Thanks to @hhrlondon for permission to use text