Re-writing history is always a welcoming step as long as the objective is to discover facts that can identify previous errors or redefine them without any prejudices. This is a challenge that remains unachievable under the BJP leadership because of their mindset.
“I am a student of history and I hear a lot of times that our history has not been presented properly and is distorted. Maybe that is correct, but now we need to correct this,” Amit Shah, Home Minister of India said at a function that was organized to celebrate the 400th birth anniversary of 17th Century Ahom General Lachit Barphjukkan of Assam. Lachit Barphjukkan, until the rise of the BJP in Assam, was not a very well-known figure in Indian history. The ascendance of the BJP in power coincided with the rise in popularity of Lachit Barphukkan as a warrior who dared to face and defeat the strong army of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the battle of Saraighat. Although there are contradictory historical versions of this battle and many historians disagree with most of them, BJP uses this incident to build its narrative of Hindu supremacy in a society composed of multi-religious communities.
Regardless of the authenticity of this historical character, the projection of Lachit as an Indian Hindu defender against an Indian Muslim invader is a drive that serves a dual purpose for BJP – establishes their credentials as a true representative of the Hindu community and creates communal hatred among Indian citizens on religious lines by demeaning the Muslim rulers who reigned India for many centuries in the past. Since the rise of the BJP, the pluralistic policies of Indian democracy are on the decline and everything from politics to religion and arts to science enjoys adoration and recognition if they are found to have any link with Hinduism.
In making such recognitions, they go to every length without weighing the correctness of their claims and observations. Aurangzeb, the sixth Mughal Emperor of India, like his predecessors, was born and raised in India. One can disagree with his policies but to call him an invader is nothing but to falsify the historical facts for one reason – his religious identity as a Muslim. This is an approach that ultimately spread a feeling of hatred among the Hindu majority against the Muslim minority and the concept of Indian nationality gets lost somewhere in between. It’s a policy that is no different from what most of the Indians blame the British invaders for – “dividing and ruling” the country.
Despite paying the heaviest price for treating the Indian nationals as Hindus and Muslims at the time of the freedom movement, no lesson has been learned by all those who were once the citizens of undivided India under British rule. Having carved out separate territories on religious lines, the hatred on religious lines continues to haunt the people of South Asian countries. BJP is now spearheading this trend and trying to restructure Indian politics into a Hindu majoritarian democracy.
Any ideology, religious or non-religious, is a most effective tool for the attainment and retention of political power and the BJP is well aware of this human weakness. To pursue an ideological objective, the historical perception of society is the first target of the ideologues. Addressing the participants of the celebration of the 400th birth anniversary of Lachit Barphjukkan of Assam, Amit Shah emphasized that the time has come to revisit the course of history as most of the history books written so far, in his opinion, are not correct. He invited the students and professors sitting among the audience, to come forward, do research, and rewrite history.
How history will be re-written under a leadership that thrives on biases and hatred is everybody’s guesswork. What guidelines such history books will follow when the events related to the “war of independence” will be recorded? How would they describe the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, who happened to be a Muslim and a descendant of Aurangzeb Alamgir – the invader of Assam? All those non-Muslim kings and rajas who had pledged their allegiance to Mughal Emperor to fight this war against the British invaders may not fit within the guidelines of the religious ideology of BJP and most probably be discarded as a bunch of traitors who had sided with the Muslim invader.
My search for an Indian government website “Azadi Ka AmritMahotsav” which was created by the Government of India to celebrate 75 years of independence of India. There is a page that carries the following note on the Mughal Emperor’s role in the “War of Independence”:
“Moreover, the unity that was displayed between the different communities during the uprising was quite remarkable. Another significant aspect of 1857 was the unity under the Mughal Emperor. The allegiance to the emperor was accepted by almost every leader in the rebellion and thus it can be said that this loyalty brought about a measure of political unity among those who were in the struggle against foreign rule.”
How the newly enlightened historians in India will tackle the historical biases where one Mughal Emperor is an invader and the other is a freedom fighter. This question will remain unanswerable until the new history books following BJP guidelines appear. However, the religious card being used by the BJP is constantly making its inroads in many other fields of learning in India as well. In March 2022, the Gujrat government issued circular advising schools to include the religious teachings of Shrimad Bhagavad Gita in classes 6-12. This instruction intended to “cultivate a sense of pride and connection to traditions”. Would the non-Hindu students be also required to go through these teachings? The report is silent on this subject but, like in all developing countries, the religious feelings of minority communities may not be of any importance to the Indian authorities as well.
The use of the religious cards has been very helpful in building BJP’s narrative that has not only countered the secular ideals of the Congress but has influenced other political parties to follow their line. Both the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) took no time in welcoming the decision of teaching Gita in schools.
