HAD THE REBELS SUCCEEDED IN DRIVING OUT THE BRITISH IN 1857

Probably 2007 is not so late[?...lol] to comment on d most important event which took place 150 years ago in colonial India-the 1857 revolt-which in no way can be called a Sepoy mutiny, merely!So coming to the point........what might have been the consequences had the rebels succeeded???

The leaders of the rebellion were mostly the dispossessed native rulers,feudal lords,peasants,etc who were all united by anti-British feelings[not nationalism].Hence if power was seized,the feudal class and the native rulers would have continued with the feudal economic system for ages to come since they provided no blueprint for an alternative economic plan!A feudal economy would have meant no maximization of production because such an economy does not provide any incentive to improve production.Since the newly western educated elites condemned the movement,their initiative in formulating a new economic structure and active participation in d freed nation is doubtful.

Driving out the British at that point in time would have spelled doom for the education system of our country.Western Education in India was started only 20-25 years before the revolt i.e. roughly around 1830s,the pedagogs being mostly British.Western Education was indeed what India was in need for centuries because her cultural progress had become stagnant under centuries of Muslim rule. Doom and how???It was essentially Western Education that triggered off the feeling of nationalism among the Indians which in turn gave birth to the urgency for parliamentary democracy and "Swaraj". Nationalism is the only force which can integrate the various ethnic groups of India.But in 1857 the rebels were not even remotely touched by nationalism.They were all inspired by regional or provincial patriotism which meant that they did not refrain from fighting other Indians as long as they did not come from their provinces.Hence communal unrest would have been more frequent than, probably it is now.

It was with the help of the British that eminent personalities like Ram Mohan Roy and Iswar Chandra tried their best to eliminate social evils like Sati,Child Marriage,etc.Though frankly speaking, they were still carried out in practice,well after the laws were passed.And these great men were all products of Western Education,after all! Hence in some way or the other,the defeat of the rebels was a gain for the future generations to come.

##### This is a mere hypothesis and plz don't take it seriously.I've only tried to pen down the major consequences according to my historical views.