India’s ‘Brexit’ Took More Than a Referendum

It has been almost 70 years since Britain exited India.

That “Brexit” took two centuries of mutinies and protests, culminating in the nonviolent movement led by Gandhi, to compel the British to grant India independence in 1947 and leave soon after.

So Indians watched with interest as Britain, perceiving a threat to its sovereignty, voted in a referendum to leave the European Union. And they marveled at how much easier this Brexit was to achieve.