Author: Sumit Sarkar
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 2, 2001
No: The BJP's doctoring of history,
so reminiscent of totalitarian states, is an attempt to turn the clock
back and, if possible, do away with history altogether
The Prime Minister has justified
the deletion of ten passages from NCERT history textbooks (to be followed
soon by their replacement and then the abolition of history as a separate
subject till Class XI) on the ground that these books are "one-sided".
How does he know? And how does being Prime Minister give him the authority
to issue such a fatwa? It is nobody's contention that the NCERT books are
perfect, but any revision must be based on at least a minimum level of
competence in the subject. It is significant that the names of those writing
the new textbooks are being kept strictly secret.
A second justification, offered
by BJP spokesmen like V K. Malhotra, is even more dangerous. The books
are not factually inaccurate, but they are unsuitable because they hurt
the "sentiments" of children of sundry communities and religions. Once
again, who decides, when, and whose sentiments?
The passage in Satish Chandra's
book about the execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur, which no one had objected
to even at the height of the Khalistani movement, suddenly comes under
attack, and sadly, first of all from the Delhi Congress - just on the eve
of Punjab elections. And what if "sentiments" are mutually opposed?
References to the oppressive aspects
of the varna system and, no doubt soon, any criticism whatsoever of the
ancient Brahmanical society, are to be deleted. Dalits, subordinated castes,
women, have obviously no "sentiments" worth bothering about.
Even more importantly, is it the
function of history to ignore all "unpleasant" facts, and become a collection
of moral fables or happy tales, its contents dictated by "religious" and/or
"community" leaders chosen by the Sangh Parivar for its political games?
Surely, education is worthwhile only if it stimulates rational thinking
and questioning and much of inherited common-sense necessarily comes under
scrutiny: as when children learn that, contrary to the evidence of their
eyes, the earth moves round the sun. Maybe, the scientific explanation
for eclipses should be banned, for it might hurt the belief that they are
caused by Rahu? But it is dangerous to be sarcastic about such things,
for we have a minister who might think this to be a good idea....
"History" of a particular kind is
vital for the Sangh Parivar, to consolidate its claim to be the sole spokesman
of the "Hindus" who have to be convinced that their interests and emotions
are and have always been unitary and inevitably opposed to those of Muslims
or Christians, regardless of differences of caste, gender, class, immense
regional variations. There had once been a certain fit between such assumptions
and the habit, derived in part from the British, of slicing up Indian history
into "Hindu" and "Muslim" periods, treating religious communities as unchanging
blocs and defining eras in terms of the religion of rulers. All this changed
as history writing came of age and progressed beyond the deeds of kings
and great or evil men.
The BJP's doctoring of history,
so reminiscent of totalitarian states, is an attempt to turn the clock
back and, if possible, do away with history altogether.
(Sumit Sarkar is a professor of
history at Delhi University)
