India@70: Changing history, one Mughal fact at a time

Recent decisions by union and state governments related to Mughal era have found themselves surrounded by controversy.

Babri Masjid demolition and the long legal battle over the land it was built on; the controversy whether Taj Mahal was originally Tejo Mahalay, a Shiva temple; the role of Muslim rulers including Mughals, are some of the most famous controversies over the subject of history, which India has in the past and is currently witnessing.

Given the diverse nature of different elements such as culture, religion among others that make up society and country, especially one as large and complicated as India, it wouldn't be considered wrong to assume that such debates over historical events and facts must be seen at regular intervals. Yet, ever since India attained independence, of which this year it is celebrating the 70th anniversary, such matters have only come to light when those in power deem it wise to do so.

"History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books-books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe." Though writer Dan Brown wrote these lines for a work of fiction, the sentiment has been true and shared by many in the real world.

These words are also the best way to describe what is being seen in the present attempts to challenge and change the narrative of historical events in India in an effort to imbibe 'cultural nationalism.' And the decision makers involved along with the timing and places of such changes give an idea of not only why Mughal history is being eliminated from that of the country, but also should it happen.

After Congress, it's BJP-RSS duo's turn

The attempts to toy with history and taking advantage of nomenclature are by no means limited to the present governments at centre and state levels alone. In fact, bending the narrative according to convenience, and the naming and renaming of roads, station, airports, government schemes or other institutions are practices long followed by the Congress.

From using names of the members of the Gandhi family, which has held control of the party, to appointing members to important institutions which are to decide on matters of history, the Congress has played a major role in making this problem a reality. A popular example, of this, is ignoring contributions of freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and others like him in school textbooks, as it did not suit the Congress narrative.

These hold more importance given that since independence, for more than five decades, the Congress, has dominated the political arena, at all levels. And the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is not only a political alternative to the grand old party of India but also in terms of ideological beliefs, has given an impetus to the aggression in terms of setting a new narrative.

BJP's rise has been accompanied by that of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, its ideological parent body, which has always called India a Hindu Rashtra and has worked towards making it a widely accepted claim. It is the beliefs of the RSS that are contrary to those of Congress, whom it has blamed for minority appeasement and burying the true past of the country, which is at the centre of the present tussle over the facts related to Mughal history, a clear an attempt to alter the Muslim past of India.

The result being the changing narrative

In June this year, the Rajasthan University saw an induction of a book in its syllabus, which claims that Maharana Pratap defeated the Mughal emperor Akbar in the Battle of Haldighati. And now, according to reports, the board of education in Maharashtra has chosen to change history text books for schools by removing the Mughal emperor's role in history and limiting it only to a few lines, instead focusing on the Maratha empire of Shivaji. While the class VII book of the subject will not have any mention of Muslim rulers before the Mughal period.

These are just the latest developments and can be seen in line with earlier decisions of the union government to approve Uttar Pradesh government's proposal to rename Mughalsarai station after a leader revered by the BJP, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and also renaming Aurangzeb Road in Delhi as Dr A P J Abdul Kalam Road.

The nature of the changes related to Mughal history clearly shows these are not only to take out the facts related to one kingdom or its rulers from the history of the country but a conscious attempt at making sure of the acceptance of India to have always been a Hindu Rashtra and glorifying its achievements by claiming to invent plastic surgery, air travel machines among others by quoting mythological stories from religious texts.

All successes of which are credited to the rulers of the Hindu religion and failures fall on the invaders, the role in which the first of the Muslim rulers came to the country.

Along with the timing, the states where these and other similar controversies go a long way in explaining these developments. Both Rajasthan and Maharashtra have governments of the BJP and UP, where the Babri issue and the Taj Controversy have picked up steam again, is also governed by the party with a majority on its own and has a Hindu priest as the chief minister.

Two wrongs don't make a right

While it is cannot be anyone's contention that history should not be open to revision, it needs to be done in a manner consistent with the strict standards followed by historians, backed by fresh evidence based on facts, which satisfy peer review. Yet none of these conditions are satisfied when random changing or tinkering with facts of India's past are looked at, and all that feels to matter is the political will and authority to be able to do so using the excuse the previous regime did it too.

This is what seems to be happening in the latest steps related to Mughal history, where, in the zeal to make the past more suitable to the desired propaganda, the present day decision makers do not only leave the country vulnerable to the effects of the saying that 'those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it' but also alienating a whole section of the country's population.

It will not be the first time a government of a democracy will be guilty of committing such mistakes. Some examples of which such as what the Nazis under Hitler did to the Jewish community and the destruction of literature and historical texts that did not suit the propaganda of the regime, though a bit extreme, drive home the point of risks that turning history into fiction by replacing facts with false narratives, hold.

And even if the current dispensation feels that the Congress has been unfair, in the 70 years since independence, to what the BJP and the RSS believes is the reality of India, by following a policy of minority appeasement, the fact that the two wrong don't make a right should lay bare the mistake of the present policy.

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