A free India would have controlled its own trade routes — railways, shipping lines, and later, airlines. By the 1920s, India could have become a maritime superpower, controlling commerce from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea.
Without the economic drain of colonial rule, India’s industries, agriculture, and trade would have flourished decades earlier. We would not have spent our resources enriching the British Empire — instead, we would have reinvested in ourselves. By the year 1900, India might already be the world’s largest economy.
There would have been no plunder of treasures, no loss of priceless artifacts. The Koh-i-Noor diamond would still sparkle in Delhi. Ancient manuscripts, gold, and cultural treasures would be intact.
The Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919 — where unarmed Indians were gunned down — would never have stained our history. Our people would already be free; no foreign power to suppress them. And perhaps, Gandhiji’s assassination would never have happened.
Indian languages — Hindi, Urdu, Tamil, Bengali, Sanskrit — could have become world languages by now, spoken and respected globally, With our fertile lands and advanced irrigation, Indian farmers could have fed not just our nation, but many others.
This vast nation wouldn’t be a loose patchwork — it would likely evolve into a federal structure similar to the United States of America, but infused with Indian diversity.
Imagine states named Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat, Sindh, Kabul Province, Ceylon Territory, and Arakan State, all united under one constitution.