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According to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, his country is considering an apology for enslaving African people and selling them. Burnham wrote this in an article published in the British newspaper ‘The Guardian’ on Friday. He has rejected the demand for financial compensation to the countries affected by slavery.
Britain kept selling African people as slaves for about 400 years. Now Burnham says that Britain will start talks with countries and organizations affected by slavery on this issue.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham attending a meeting in Glasgow. The picture is of 30 October 2026.
PM said- Today’s generation is not responsible for old crimes
Burnham wrote that today’s British citizens cannot be held responsible for the mistakes that were made hundreds of years ago. Today’s people had no role in the crimes of that time.
He wrote that Britain could instead help poor Commonwealth countries repay their debts. For this, it has been said that a scheme will be started under the leadership of former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Under this, efforts will be made to give more time and less interest to poor countries to repay their loans. Britain will also help these countries adopt clean energy.
Enslaved 32 million African people
According to the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, Britain enslaved about 32 lakh African people by taking them across the Atlantic Ocean.
- European countries together captured more than 12.5 million African people and sold them into slavery.
- Britain banned the buying and selling of slaves in 1807. In 1833, a law was made to abolish slavery, which came into effect from 1834.
- It took until 1838 for the slaves to get complete freedom. After the end of slavery, Britain compensated not the victims but their owners.
- The government gave 20 million pounds (about Rs. 255 crores) to the slave owners. This was about 40% of Britain’s annual budget at that time. It took till 2015 to repay the loan taken by the British government for this amount.
20 lakh laborers from India were also sent abroad for work
After the end of slavery, the system of making laborers work for a fixed period of time started in the British Empire. This was called indentured labor system. Under this, between 1838 and 1917, about 20 lakh Indian men, women and children were sent to work in the British colonies. These included Caribbean countries and South Africa.
Many of these people were not told the real conditions of employment. Some people were also kidnapped and taken away. There they were made to work in the fields and gardens. Due to low wages and poor conditions, many workers could not even afford to return to India.
Raw cotton sent from India was used in the textile mills of British cities like Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow. At the same time, India had become a big market for clothes made in Britain. Britain benefited from this, while India’s traditional textile industry suffered losses.
Shashi Tharoor said – Britain should also apologize for the atrocities committed in India
Congress MP and writer Shashi Tharoor has reacted to Burnham’s statement. He wrote on x that Britain should apologize not only for slavery, but also for the atrocities and plunder committed in India.
Tharoor told ‘The Hindu’ that it is shameful that Britain has not yet apologized for the looting, destruction and deaths of people in India. He said that no amount of money would be enough to compensate for the loss suffered by India, but Britain should accept its mistakes.
Tharoor has earlier also suggested that Britain give India a symbolic compensation of one pound every year for 200 years. He says this is more a matter of accepting one’s historical mistakes than money.
King Charles admitted – a lot of injustice was done to the people in the past
Britain’s King King Charles is on a tour of Caribbean countries these days. Before the Commonwealth meeting, he said in the Bahamas that in the past people had to suffer a lot and were treated unfairly. However, he did not apologize formally for this.
Britain’s King Charles meets people in Guyana during his visit to the Caribbean. The picture is of 30 October 2026.
Britain’s Buckingham Palace has said that the decision to apologize has to be taken by the elected government there. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley welcomed Burnham’s statement. However, he clearly said that Caribbean countries will continue to demand economic compensation for slavery.
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