Eminently Fake Historians

Bengaluru is not known for its historians. Yet in this beautiful city lives an 'award' winning historian who once authored a book called the 'Makers of Modern India'. This historian identified 19 individuals who in his opinion shaped our modern day India. The list of leaders who shaped modern India include Rajaramohan Roy, Gokhale, Tilak, Gandhi, M S Golwalkar, Rammanohar Lohia , Jayprakash Narayan etc.

As I finished reading the book of this Padma Bhushan awardee, I felt something was wrong. I re-read the book to find that this historian had little idea of the role Sardar Patel played in shaping the geopolitical landscape of India . What made it even worse was that there was a chapter dedicated to Jinnah !! It surprised me how this international award winning historian missed Sardar Patel completely.

Last month, the same historian published an article full of hate to malign M S Golwalkar and his book 'Bunch of Thoughts'. You can read his article here

While this historian is within his rights to criticise M S Golwalkar, I would like to respond to 3 observations of this noted historian

1) Firstly ....the historian claims 'Bunch of Thoughts is to the Hindutvawadi what the Bible is to devout Christians, the Koran to devout Muslims, and the Communist Manifesto to practising Marxists, namely, their Holy Book, whose arguments influence their behaviour' 

Beliefs and behaviour of any Hindu are not shaped only by what is written in one book. The are numerous versions of Ramayana, Mahabharata and the Bhagwad. In fact Hindus take inspiration from both 'Shriti' and 'Smriti' i.e. what is heard and remembered and not only what is written. A basic reading and understanding of Hindu philosophy would have helped this historian. Also analysing India using the lens of semantic religions does a big dis-service to both India and to the semantic religions. 

2) Secondly, the Padma Bhushan awardee claims that he fails to understand the unifying thread among Hindus. He also mocks the Hindu philosophy of 'unifying the world'.

What unites Hindus and in general every Indian is our shared culture. Our beliefs and behaviours are shaped by this shared culture. Our joint family system , the way we treat our parents, the way we bring up our kids is defined by this unifying culture. Our culture transcends caste and religion. Learning a couple of shlokas such as 'Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinaha' and 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' would help this scholar understand the unifying vision of Hindu philosophy 

3) Lastly .... this scholar claims that Golwalkar remains silent on the plight of dalits and caste based discrimination. A basic Google search reveals that Golwalkar had extensively written about it. In fact Golwalkar went further and organised a kumbh mela of all the popular mutts to pass a resolution to end case based discrimination. 

It is indeed shocking how an award winning researcher's work could not pass a simple 'Google search test' 

One of India's best known historian R C Majumdar  once wrote ' To be a history in a true sense of the word, the work must be the story of people inhabiting a country. It must be a record of their life form age to age presented through the life and achievements of men whose exploits become the beacon lights of tradition ... through those values which the people have accepted or reacted to and which shaped their collective will ... the purpose of history is to unfold the values which age after age have inspired the inhabitants of the country'.

Ramchandra Guha's works speaks little of the people of India, their values, beliefs and behaviour which has shaped India. In fact this historian mocks the very people, their values and their beliefs. Works of such prejudiced individuals have no place in modern day academia.