Past and prejudice
December 19, 2010 12:26:43 PM
Makers of Modern India
Author: Ramachandra Guha
Publisher: Penguin
Price: Rs 799
Ramachandra Guha has his own preferences while making the list of the
'makers' of modern India, writes Saradindu Mukherji
In post-Independent India, conformism to the received wisdom is the
key to "glory" in social sciences/historical studies, and deviation
leads to guillotine. Ramachandra Guha is fully conscious of this
truism. His book, Makers of Modern India, deals with 19 mainly
well-known, and a few lesser-known, personalities; many of them were
titans of our national resurgence.
Short biographical sketches are supplemented with their speeches,
writings, etc, without any interrogation. While Jyotiba Phule,
rightly, gets 20 pages, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, considered by Guha among
the "makers" of modern India, has about 16 pages on his speeches; Bal
Gangadhar Tilak, in contrast, gets just nine pages. And, Lala Lajpat
Rai is mentioned only in the foot-note. Guha, indeed, has a unique
vision of history!
Among the leading thinker-politicians from the West, omission of
William Ewart Gladstone appears surprising, considering what all he
wrote and did!
India is not an "unnatural nation", as Guha suggests. Long before it
developed as a united entity in the 19th century under the colonial
impact, it was the cultural unity which had provided the bedrock.
Right from the 52 shakti pithas spread across the subcontinent, our
saints and poet-philosophers had visualised the concept of
'Bharatvarsha'.
Guha cites a speech by Jayaprakash Narayan in Patna, when he said,
"Travel to the remotest corners of India, and you will find things
that are linked to our epics and scriptures — when we speak of the
unity of India, we do not really mean its political unity." It is the
spirit of mutual accommodation born out of our ancient Hindu-Buddhist
ethos that explains our survival as democracy, and the presence of a
growing number of minorities — however distorted that "secularism"
might have turned.
The author excludes Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and
many more, because they lacked what he calls "original ideas". One
always believed that great activists are mostly fired by original
ideas. But then, the personalities, their writings/speeches and the
bibliography he mentions are a matter between the author and the
publisher. Surendranath Banerjee ("surrender-not" to the British),
also called the "prophet of modern India", who authored A Nation in
Making, is not even mentioned in the foot-note! Dadabhai Naoroji
doesn't find a place among the 19.
Rammohan Roy's Persian book, with its 'preface' in Arabic, wasn't only
an attack on idol worship, as Guha mentions, but also a critique of
prophetism, and thus against intolerant monotheism. In any case, Roy
was not talking of a creedal religion. In dismissing Shivaji rather
pejoratively as a "warrior-chief", the author ignores, among many
others, the impact of the Shivaji tradition — the inspiration behind
the nationalist challenge in Maharashtra and elsewhere. Rabindranath
Tagore has a wonderful piece on this.
Guha blunders egregiously in comparing Syed Ahmad Khan with Rammohan
Roy. Unlike Roy, Khan had no faith in democracy and liberal
principles. The latter was in the habit of reminding his
co-religionists about their tradition of military conquest and
supremacy over Hindus. It is he who gave the sobriquet
'Quwwat-al-Islam' (might of Islam) to the mosque built over 27
Hindu/Jain temples in Delhi's Qutub Minar complex. While Roy
campaigned against sati, Khan never uttered a word against triple
talaq, jihad, the concept of kafiror similar ideas. As for Aligarh's
Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, Guha smothers its role in spreading
a vicious brand of Muslim separatism.
In Guha's scheme of things, Mohammed Ali Jinnah is considered the
"maker of India"! There is, however, no mention of his call for the
"Direct Action", resulting in the massacre of thousands of Hindus,
and, of course, the persecution of minorities in Pakistan. In blaming
"Congress arrogance", "separate electorates" and the policy of "divide
and rule" for Partition, Guha ignores the ideological-theological
basis of Islamic separatism and Muslim propensity for street violence,
exceptions apart. This perfectly suits our 'secularists', and would
sell well in Pakistan, too.
The inclusion of Jayaprakash (JP) Narayan, Rajagopalachari, Rammonohar
Lohia, along with Gandhi and Nehru, is apt, but then, by that logic,
Syama Prasad Mookerjee's presence in the book would not have been
absurd. But then, this is the author's prerogative! Hence, the
exclusion of JP's speech in 1974, preceding the fraudulent Emergency
is not so surprising. After all, JP had a stellar role in giving us a
respite from the dynastic rule. As there is a lot on Mahatma Gandhi
and Jawaharlal Nehru everywhere, I refrain from commenting anything
more on what he says. He admits a preference for the "older books",
yet there is none from the magisterial writings of venerable Ramesh
Chandra Majumdar.
Hopefully, one day, some open-minded historian/publisher would dare to
write an inclusive history on the makers of modern India. Besides
excluding some, and including those deserving a place on the high
pedestal, the ideal chronicler would care to include, besides Swami
Vivekananda and Dayanand, the likes of Sri Aurobindo, JC Bose, CV
Raman, Jamsetji Tata, Visveswaraiya, among others. Till then, many of
us, at least our children, would be content with reading Amar Chitra
Katha.
-- The reviewer is professor of History, University of Delhi
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