As India has completed 75th years of its independence, there is a buzz that the history of India should be revisited as it has been based on the “Colonial understanding”, writ large with an umpteenth number of omissions. If yes, then what for? In fact, the history that we have been studying in schools and colleges and reading till now belongs to the imperialist British who occupied India for nearly 200 years, or that of the leftists who are creation of the Macaulayism and Karl Marx. Many have a feeling that the Indian struggle for freedom in India has been contributed to basically one Nehru-Gandhi family. It has also been said that there was no contribution of RSS or Hindu Maha Sabha, which is a fallacy. A seething example of that is, Vir Savarkar, who has been accused of joining hands with the English and that he was associated with Godse in Gandhi’s devastating murder. Both the terse feelings associated with Savarkar, are misplaced as neither Savarkar bowed before the English nor colluded with Godse for murdering Gandhi as his name was cleared by the concerned court.
The author had attended a workshop on the subject, managed by the ideology wing of RSS, led by Arun Kumar. Apart from this, the five RSS pioneers, that make the Indian nation a nation, that is, Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, MS Golvarkar, Veer Savarkar, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyay, who are the ideal characters of the new India, have not yet been given their due except by the ones associated the RSS. Unfortunately, the Congress leaders had been demonizing all these Sangh freedom stalwarts for scaring Muslims that the RSS and Jana Sangh (now BJP) have been after their jugular that facilitated the oldest party treating Muslim as vote banks by creating internal fissures amongst them. Throughout the Congress tenure, Muslims have been unjustifiably and negatively brainwashed by the Congress. This is when the Sangh and the BJP respect the stalwarts of the Congress, like Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patal, etc
Opines Romila Thapar that the rewriting of history of India was intended to endorse a new political agenda and to create an Indian identity, where Indian became synonymous with Hindu, the religion of the majority — thus excluding the large Muslim minority and the much smaller Christian minority. Castigating this far-fetched idea, Arun Kumar, the RSS ideologue said that rewriting was cleared that the project of rewriting of Indian history won't be against any religion or community as everybody's history will be recognized and represented with pride and given due respect to all those. The idea is to use Indian vernacular sources by giving equal representation to all the dynasties across India such that due credit is given to those who have either been missed out or purposely put in the grey area.
While Mughals will be there, equal importance will be given to Marathas, Ahoms and others too. Truth is that Maratha history as well has not been given proper justice in the history records as much focus is given to the 17th and 18th centuries being the downfall and decline of the Mughals and the growth of the British regime instead of the vastness of the Maratha empire. Thus, the history that's currently available in a 'Euro-centric' manner will be rewritten after citing vernacular literature.
There is no mention of Maulana Ubedullah Sindhi and Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh, the Indian freedom fighters of Darul Uloom Deoband, who taught in Indian schools and universities and established Indian rule in Kabul in the struggle for independence against the British on July 9, 1916. Freedom stalwarts from the madrasa background, like Maulana Mufti Kifayatullah Dehlvi, Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, Maulana Sanaullah Amritsari, Maulana Mohd Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti, Maulana Abdul Bari Fiangimahli, Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani and Maulana Azad ‘Subhani’.
Mohan Bhagwat, Chief of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in his book Yashswi Bharat says that since 1947, the writers of Indian history have been affected by the imperialist outlook and prejudices. These people, who call themselves historians, could not read Sanskrit or Persian and at the behest of the British, have been writing fake and false history that is still taught in our educational institutions.
There is thus a need to rewrite Indian history and new dimensions based on India's tradition and nationality incorporated in it. This version has to reflect India’s reality as a peaceful country that has no enemy in the world. Even for enemies, India has never sought to eliminate; the idea is to take them along. This is precisely Hindutva in its real meaning — in fact, a way of life, as we also say about Islam. Hindutva has nothing to do with religion and India’s real sprit is the spirit of Ramatva (Lord Rama’s lifestyle) and Muhammadtva (spirit of Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] {peace be upon him}).
It is this spirit and reason, the world is looking towards India, as we saw in the year of the corona epidemic. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the nation was able to manage the horrid pandemic in a way, much better as compared to many western countries. The Prime Minister's slogans: “Laxman Rekha”, “Janata Curfew”, “Jaan hai to jahan hai,” and “Tali and thali” besides his appeal to the public to light a lamp filled Indians with hope in desperate times.
There is no doubt that in the last 7years, India has emerged as a Vishwaguru (the global leader). Arun Kumar, RSS leader recently said that the way India’s history has been recorded, there are many errors in it and many freedom fighters and events have been ignored. For example, he said that in 1857, when Bahadur Shah Zafar, Rani Laxmibai, Tantya Tope, Kunwar Singh, Nana Saheb Peshwa, Begum Hazrat Mahal and Jhalkari Bai had led the freedom struggle. However, at the same time, Seth Ramchandra Gudwale of Chandni Chowk, in the Shahjahanabadi walled city area of old Delhi, was also serving the cause of freedom struggle in every way his body, mind and wealth allowed. Some 150 members of his family were hanged to death. However, no one knows about Gudwale’s role. A similar incident took place in a village in Ambala, where the freedom fighters killed 40 British soldiers; their village was captured and many villagers were handed to death.
A similar fate was meted to VO Chidambaram, an Indian loyalist, who was a lawyer in Kerala and was first held captive and then sentenced to death. Besides, even in the eastern hemisphere of India, many freedom fighters sacrificed their lives in states like, Assam, Arunchal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Their stories of valour and bravery have not been considered worth by the then history writers under the influence of the English. After having gone through the history studied under the English and Congress rule, it would appear that the struggle for independence of India happened only in North India. The all India nature of this movement has been ignored by the Congress and the left historians for reasons best known to them.
Apart from this, it’s clear that after the British took over the entire economy of India through the East India Company, the merchant class of India resisted it. In fact, the British would take the raw material from India and finish it and sell the goods at ten times higher prices to the Indians. Most of the made in England goods were sold in India at sky high prices. The loot by the British of India’s resources is yet to be recorded in history.
In his book, "Rashtriya Swayamsevak: Disha Sutra of Swarnim Bharat", academician, Sunil Ambekar, writes that the tribal and rural system was also distorted in this English history. For example, the name of Rani Durgwati, who fought against Akbar, is nowhere mentioned in any of the history books. Her name survives in memory only because of the Gond people of Gondwana, who have kept it alive in their folklore.
Also, Rani Durgawati’s name also figures in children's literary publications like "Amar Chitra Katha" and "Prabhat Prakashan". Mangal Pandey was also about to be lost to the jaundiced view of historians but for the children’s literature. Same is the story of Ram Prasad 'Bismil', Harikrishna Devsare, Damodar Lal Garg, Amresh Mishra, Tony Patel etc. Santhal Knights, Tilaka Manjhi, in 1785 also holds a special place in other tribal conflicts, and Birsa Munda is also alive due to tribal folklore. The rewriting, mammoth task, however, will bring to the fore some historical details that were either censored.
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The author is the former chancellor of MANUU and grandnephew, Bharat Ratna Maulana Azad
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