Britain’s longest-serving monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, died aged 96 on Thursday at Balmoral in Scotland after 70 years as head of state.

Whereas thousands and thousands mourned and tributes poured in from world leaders, there have been blended reactions to her demise throughout former British colonies comparable to India and Pakistan in south Asia.

Together with her ascension to the throne in 1953, Elizabeth II grew to become the monarch of greater than a dozen nations. Her seven decade-long reign spanned a time of vital transitions, not solely in Britain however all through the Commonwealth too.

Generally known as the jewel within the crown of the British empire, India grew to become an unbiased nation in 1947 after greater than two centuries of colonial rule, just some years earlier than the Queen’s coronation.

The tip of British rule left behind a divided nation as the brand new nation of Pakistan was born, unleashing the world’s largest pressured migration, throughout which greater than 1,000,000 individuals died and practically 15 million had been displaced.

Reflecting on their nations’ relationship with the monarchy within the wake of the Queen’s demise, commentators advised The Unbiased that, whereas the fashionable histories of unbiased India and Pakistan had been intrinsically associated to their colonial previous, the Queen in some ways represented a shift in geopolitical relations for these nations as Britain retreated from world dominance.

Mridula Mukherjee, a number one historian and former chair of the Centre for Historic Research at Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru College, mentioned that proper from the primary decade of independence the Queen was acquired warmly in India. This was helped by the truth that the tougher points of the switch of energy had already been handled by 1953.

“India had already joined the Commonwealth and the style by which India would be part of had already been sorted out,” she defined.

The Queen was given a red-carpet welcome by India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, guided by Mahatma Gandhi’s cardinal precept of not subscribing to hate.

“We had been concerned with overthrowing the British imperial system solely and didn’t have any hatred in the direction of the British individuals,” mentioned Ms Mukherjee. “And that’s how the Queen was seen in India.”

She added that India didn’t need to proceed a legacy of discord, regardless of how the subcontinent had suffered by way of colonial rule.

“It’s true that two centuries of colonial rule had left the economic system in a foul form: whether or not it was life expectancy, well being or some other standards, it was all abysmal in 1947.

“This was very true of the partition and the style by which it was executed, with out taking sufficient care to make sure that the division befell with out bloodshed. These questions stay, however they didn’t replicate on how the Queen herself was perceived in India.”

Manisha Priyam, an instructional and political analyst, mentioned India had steadily drawn away from the affect of its former colonial energy over the course of the Queen’s reign, however the way in which she appeared to have accepted this with “grace” and continued to go to India and reward its variety had been appreciated.

“The truth that India has contested many types of colonial energy, that’s one thing she has been in a position to take with grace. Over time, India has now not remained reliant on the UK by way of geostrategic alliances. To India, the Quad grouping [US, Japan, Australia and India] now issues extra; in some ways, India’s ties with the US matter extra. And the Queen responded to those totally different political transitions gracefully. So at present we mourn with the UK after her demise,” she mentioned.

Mani Shankar Aiyar, former Indian minister and diplomat, mentioned that in some ways the Queen was a “image of continuity in a churning ocean of change”.

“When she grew to become the Queen, the British empire had misplaced the ‘jewel in its crown’ – India – however was circling the globe in lots of components of Africa and dominion standing in lots of monarchies.

“She needed to preside over Britain’s retreat from world dominance, and he or she did so with resilience and restraint,” he advised The Unbiased.

As India marked 75 years of independence in August, the federal authorities led by prime minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Occasion (BJP) introduced a sequence of occasions targeted on ending symbols of colonial “slavery”.

On Thursday night, because the Queen’s well being deteriorated, Mr Modi was reopening the newly renovated Central Vista of Delhi, a colonial-era landmark, and altering the title of its central boulevard the Rajpath (it was Kingsway earlier than independence) to Kartavya Path (obligation street).

Mr Aiyar mentioned that the timing of the Queen’s coronation meant she couldn’t be thought to be one of many symbols of India’s colonial previous.

“She grew to become the Queen six years after Indian independence. Gandhi himself gifted her a chunk of Khadi material as his reward to the inheritor obvious.

“To confuse her with the empire is to make the historic mistake that this authorities stands accused of.”

Though India and Pakistan share a typical colonial historical past, divided by a ugly partition, the evolution of the 2 nations has been totally different.

Qamar Cheema, a south Asian analyst primarily based in Islamabad, mentioned that the many years after independence had seen the rise of a brand new form of political management in each nations.

“The elite linked with colonial powers have been castigated by the rise of latest leaders. Whereas colonialism as a political narrative is typically raised in rallies, it doesn’t discuss with the Queen however slightly a way of dropping worth for the dormant connections that some politicians had with the British empire,” he mentioned.

With the tip of the second Elizabethan period, he mentioned, it was now time for these new leaders in south Asia to depart behind their variations, which had been rooted within the colonial-era legacy of partition. “There could also be unfinished enterprise, together with the wars [between India and Pakistan] and the problem of Kashmir, however the focus needs to be on shifting ahead as nations.”