Amitav Ghosh new book blames India too for China's opium addiction, ‘civilisational shock’

"Indians would do well to remember these words every time they are assailed by a sense of grievance in relation to China," Ghosh writes in Smoke and Ashes. In his book, Ghosh has quoted Gopal Krishna Gokhale - one of the many public figures who were part of the anti-opium movement in India. "I have always felt a sense of deep humiliation at the thought of this [opium] revenue, derived as it is practically from the degradation and moral ruin of the people of China," Gokhale had said. "You can't blame them (Indian traders) entirely since the British were leading…