आम जन का हाल क्या होगा भला
आईना से यदि कहीं टकरा गए
उसने अमराई में रक्खा पांव जब
देख उसको आम तक बौरा गए

LIBERATING INDIAN MIND -22
CALLING BY NAME

“I listened you attentively, without interference. I understand how much you hate the failure of the authors in writing an objective history. I gathered that you are, in some respects, more informed than them…“

I did not allow him to proceed further, “you fail to read me. I do not hate anyone. Historians fall from their elevated position the moment they start loving or hating. I had referred Kautilya to show the general proclivities of well off men. To me it is something like the habit laced drink – the more you gulp down the more thirsty you are – the secret of yeh-dil-maange- more.That was enough a statement of my positiveness. And another thing; I can not be more informed than those who had long leisure hours with libraries at their bedside and informed circle to exchange their ideas as close as their living room, and study-leave and foreign assignments at their whim.

Can you see through the design to placate and disorient our educational system by allowing the teachers to be luxury loving guys. It granted unprecedented permissibily to students not to outshine but to make them mast-mast-cheez ? On my part, I did my best to keep upright, to use every drop of time usefully; to remain content with the little that came my way curtailing my needs without making complaints.”

“Don’t hide yourself behind sanctimony. I kept counting recurrence of the word ‘despise’ in your discussions.

“That was because of my inability to find precise terms at the spur of time. I meant, I do not like or love them, but I have always expressed my willingness to learn my own shortcomings, as noted by them but I found them inadequately equipped t point out even one substantial mistake.”

“That means they silently certified you be correct. But why did they not change their course after they admitted themselves to be wrong that case?”

“They had double standards. They pleaded, there are different theories and different approaches. They had perhaps negotiated their freedom of thought and expression for ever. Or perhaps, because it amounted to committing academic suicide.”

“Don’t you really feel angry when you call them cheats and miscreants.”

He had ultimately caught me at his fish-hook. I really found it a bit difficult to slip away but as my intentions were clear, I did not feel shaky. I paused to find a convincing reply, and then said in a measured tone, “left to myself I can order them to be hanged with the coolness of a judge pronouncing his verdict.They knew they are wrong, and yet maintained their stand because of ulterior motives.These dubious luminaries through their laced history have caused more harm to many generations by creating disoriented, vulnerable and unresistant Hindu and on the other hand overbold, over demanding, and horrendous Muslim generations, producing a problem ridden, unmanageable crime world from top to bottom. All the criminals and underworld operators combined together can not come equal to them.”

“Don’t you excel them all alone by keeping the arsenal of communalism run day and night in cyclic shift, looking for Hindu and Muslim in everything and everywhere? You lie over and above when you profess objectivity and matter-of-fact-ness in observation and description for a historian, covertly claiming to be one youself. Is this discrimination a proof of your objectivity?” He turned rude all of a sudden both in gesture and speech.

I did not expect a melody, but this was an indication that the discussion may take an ugly course. I could not lighten it even by a dismissive smile. I had to manage my cool both in gestural and verbal expression, “shouldn’t we talk a bit patiently?”

He didn’t answer but showed his approval by relaxing a bit.

“I shall be a bit abstract, but that is imperative.” I said and waited for his objection. He gave an approbative jerk to his head, but said nothing.

“Things unnamed, unknown, and lying in darkness are more dangerous because we fail to comprehend them.” I said and paused for his reaction. He mellowed in his effort to grasp my point.

“Concealing the name or obscuring the identity is in an undefined way, making them more formidable than they are, because it permits free use of imagination and creates space for rumor which inflates the magnitude and aggravates the problem out of proportion. This has been a foolish approach adopted in the name of secularism but resulted in keeping the fire smoldering in the background non-stop.”

“That may be your perception.” He broke his silence. He was normal.

“Mans first conquest on Nature was through language, not through a tool, unless you take language also as a tool. It was by attaching a name to objects and through that name man’s ability to make their ideal presence possible as and when he required. The first step towards problem solving is calling things by their exact name. Mind it, one object in one condition has only one name and no other, and the moment we allow that name to slip we allow the problem to slip from our grasp.”

His face beamed with softened intimacy.

“The authors who named, even though inappropriately as Hindu period, Muslim period, British period, did not commit those atrocities even when they were biased than that deliberately committed by the historians in their text-book writings with ancient and medieval tags but with more sordid and salutary depictions as Hindu and Muslim ones. When I say a scientific narration of events and social forces at work does not attach any importance to pleasantries because of timidity, but calls them by name, I mean simply this.

“They had no courage to say that the history was being revised under the direction and control of Muslim heads, and was commissioned to be written by Hindu authors because of their guilty conscience. But this was what precisely happened. This was why it became so conducive to growth of communalism.

This is how they first drew a formidable picture of Hindu backlash, creating general fear and sense of insecurity in society and with added doses of uncalled for communal insults through inventions and false justifications injected life blood in their own picture and made it possible for it to march with menacing pace and now they really cry hoarse that the worst has come. No, even the worse has not come and that is why people keep their hopes alive, but I fear with promoting lynching doling out money to enthuse cattle protectors and rapists with visual clips to prove the rulers that be inefficient to handle law and order front, they may make even autocracy possible. We all have joint responsibility to save and ensure the nation. Lawlessness must be discouraged. It is counter-productive as well.

LIBERATING INDIAN MIND -21
GOVERNORS OF WISDOM

“ I agree there is some substance in your allegation but I have no explanation why such luminaries offered themselves to be used by sly conspirators.”

“Personally I have some regard for those who had been trying to impose their culture, language, script, ethos, and even religion on the Hindus, I have no complaint against the colonial rulers who pitched them against the Hindus who had embraced modern education and were demanding more power and share leading to complete independence. feeding their lurking desire to dominate the Hindus.”

“You appear to share the views of Nirad chaudhury?'”

“I am not talking of cultural superiority, but political compulsions, administrative exigencies. Mind it, they conquered India on the strength of Indian soldiers. We fought for them against our own people, because our own people treated us worse than aliens during the medieval period. They ruled India instigating us to fight like cocks against each other. They had only two choices: either to go back or pit us against each other creating fissures where none existed; widening preexisting fissures, intensifying hatred inventing or reminding old vanities and injuries. You must admire that they adopted the best course available to them.”

“If that is the case, you should not blame Muslims as well who had sufficient grounds for apprehension.”

“A historian does not play the blame-game unless there is a deliberate choice by someone due to his personal infirmities. His job is to describe the pressures and drives that lead to an event as I earlier recalled through a Buddhist dictum. It is the priests and politicians who indulge into it. In fact I admire the acumen of the Muslim leadership which, irrespective of its political preferences, acted in collaboration to gain maximum advantage and wield power wherever they were.

“You may be upset to know that I compare them with Brahmins and and admire some of them for setting up standards of simple living, and ascetic reluctance towards power and pelf. I admire their dedication to learning and sacrifices for spread of education despite the fact that they taught only the Brahmins, despite the fact that they stuck to social discrimination and had caste-centrist arrogance; despite the fact that they failed in practice their paradoxical Sanatan value system and were incapable to see the absurdities noticed by others much less educated than them in their sacred texts.”

“come to the point, yaar..

“I never blame the Muslims for their calculative moves to gain more than their legitimate share during the freedom movement even for division of the country except carnage resorted to as a measure to intimidate and force the Congress leadership. But they never adopted those vile means to destroy cultural spine of the Hindus with combination of iconoclastic zeal and underworld tricks. Even so I admire their manipulative skill, their reticence, resilience, and determination to achieve what they had targeted.”

He could not hold himself from laughing heartily, “On the one hand you talk of loot and booty and on the other of reticence and selflessness.” he added as the laughter subsided.

“I am talking of the Muslim historians and sociologists who took the Hindu scholars by nose-string, fed their vanity and avarice and make them sing songs to the tunes set by them. Look at the austerity of the programmers. Not a single Muslim historian opted or was assigned the job of writing even on medieval India. In that case they would not ignore the plight of the masses, specially the peasantry that was required to pay land revenue even during prolonged famines to force them occasionally to revolt and be massacred or captured and compelled to change their faith or undertake menial vocations under torture and hunger as Aligarh papers written by Muslim researchers did not completely ignore this aspect. These commissioned Hindu historians had to whitewash all the black spots while they could laud circulation of money and growth in urbanization – a feature common to exotic rulers.

“Look at the irony. There were Muslim scholars to control the and guide the the writers but not a single one to write a page even on Medieval India. Even ancient India had to be handled by such novices as to encourage even a Muslim maker of history to claim authority on the Vedic period. The father of Marxist history in India had been groomed by the doyen with impeccable record as far monetary interests are concerned. He contributed his bits to congress fund and counsels to the author of discovery of India. But their ascetic indifference to money was compensated by direct and indirect control of offices of importance. It suited the beneficiaries of their largesse.

“All research projects with open moneybags were availed by those who were Hindus. All tribulations to percolate these concoctions down the raw heads to make the Hindu students subservient and their Muslim counterparts haughty were shared by Muslim governors of wisdom.

“If I have any despise, it is for those who wrote these books directions of their mentors just for lucre.”

“The only complaint I have with them all is that they could not acquire democratic temperament despite its extraordinary success in India.”

LIBERATING INDIAN MIND -21
GOVERNORS OF WISDOM

“ I agree there is some substance in your allegation but I have no explanation why such luminaries offered themselves to be used by sly conspirators.”

“Personally I have some regard for those who had been trying to impose their culture, language, script, ethos, and even religion on the Hindus, I have no complaint against the colonial rulers who pitched them against the Hindus who had embraced modern education and were demanding more power and share leading to complete independence. feeding their lurking desire to dominate the Hindus.”

“You appear to share the views of Nirad chaudhury?'”

“i am not talking of cultural superiority, but political compulsions, administrative deftness. They conquered India on the strength of Indian soldiers fighting their own people, they ruled India instigating us to fight our own people.They had only two choices: either to go back or pit us against each other creating fissures where none existed; widening fissures preexistence, intensifying hatred inventing or reviving old injuries. The adopted the best course available to them.”

“if that is the case, you should not blame Muslims as well.”

“A historian does not play the blame-game unless there is a deliberate choice due to personal infirmities. His job is to describe the pressures and drives that lead to an event as i earlier recalled through Buddhist dictum. .It is the priests and politicians who indulge into it. entertain it. in fact I admire the acumen of the Muslim leadership who irrespective of their political preferences acted in collaboration to gain maximum advantage and wield power.

I do also admire the exemplary Brahmans setting high standards of simple living, ascetic reluctance towards power and pelf, dedication to learning and spread of education despite the fact that they indulged in social discrimination, caste-centrist arrogance, and their paradoxical Sanatan value system and inability see the absurdities noticed by much less educated person in their sacred texts.”

“come to the point, yaar..

“I never blame the Muslims for their calculative moves to gain more than their legitimate share during the freedom movement even for division of the country except carnage resorted to as a measure to intimidate and force the Congress leadership. But they never adopted those vile means to destroy cultural spine of the Hindus with combination of iconoclastic zeal and underworld tricks. Even so I admire their manipulative skill, their reticence, resilience, and determination to achieve what they had targeted.”

He could not hold himself from laughing heartily, “On the one hand you talk of loot and booty and on the other of reticence and selflessness.” he added as the laughter subsided.

“I am talking of the Muslim historians and sociologists who took the Hindu scholars by nose-string, fed their vanity and avarice and make them sing songs to the tunes set by them. Look at the austerity of the programmers. Not a single Muslim historian opted or was assigned the job of writing even on medieval India. In that case they would not ignore the plight of the masses, specially the peasantry that was required to pay land revenue even during prolonged famines to force them occasionally to revolt and be massacred or captured and compelled to change their faith or undertake menial vocations under torture and hunger as Aligarh papers written by Muslim researchers did not completely ignore this aspect. These commissioned Hindu historians had to whitewash all the black spots while they could laud circulation of money and growth in urbanization – a feature common to exotic rulers.

“Look at the irony. There were Muslim scholars to control the and guide the the writers but not a single one to write a page even on Medieval India. Even ancient India had to be handled by such novices as to encourage even a Muslim maker of history to claim authority on the Vedic period. The father of Marxist history in India had been groomed by the doyen with impeccable record as far monetary interests are concerned. He contributed his bits to congress fund and counsels to the author of discovery of India. But their ascetic indifference to money was compensated by direct and indirect control of offices of importance. It suited the beneficiaries of their largesse.

“All research projects with open moneybags were availed by those who were Hindus. All tribulations to percolate these concoctions down the raw heads to make the Hindu students subservient and their Muslim counterparts haughty were shared by Muslim governors of wisdom.

“If I have any despise, it is for those who wrote these books directions of their mentors just for lucre.”

“The only complaint I have with them all is that they could not acquire democratic temperament despite its extraordinary success in India.”

उन्हें खुदा न मिला
मुझको आदमी न मिला
थके नहीं हैं अभी तक
तलाश जारी है ।

बाद मरने के याद आता है
जो भी जितनी बना किया उसने।

एक पन, सिर्फ एक वादा था
खुद को उस पर मिटा दिया उसने ।

आसमां में तने कंगूरों को
धूल में सच मिला दिया उसने।

फिर भी शक है तो बना रहने दो
मैं भी कहता हूं क्या किया उसने ।।

LIBERATING INDIAN MIND -20
Truth in non-negotiable.

Now, emit all your fumes. I have come prepared today.” he stated as he sat.

“ yesterday I was a bit angry. I had all the Fires fumes to blacken and burn those responsible for discrediting with design a civilization which was ahead of all the rivals in the world and in our estimate which played vital role in civilizing the rest of the world”

“But now? what went wrong in a single night?”

“It is almost a law, yaar. I was just reading, Kautilya and was shocked to face his observation that the more materially ambitious a person, the more degenerate he is. Loyalty to the parents and the motherland declines with increasing lust for prosperity , paraphernalia, and might including fame and influence. Children brought in prosperity are thankless, undependable, parasitic and those denied even basic amenities (suhkoparuddha) are. faithful, dependable, hardworking and men of integrity.”

“This is too sweeping an observation.” He objected.

“Generalizations are only broadly true. But if you minutely observe, economically disadvantaged section of our society is comparatively more honest and self respecting than the better placed one.”

“Visit a prison to know what is the ratio of criminals status-wise.”

“It is because the poor commit petty offenses, lack resources to defend them, are easy targets, and in heinous crimes they are not the culprits but mostly the tools. The rest of them are comparatively much more law abiding than the upper class in which moral uprightness is only exceptional.”

“You had to talk about how these new history books were written, under whose guidance and why. Didn’t you promise?

“I was just coming to the same, but you know simple things are more difficult to describe, and thoughts which have taken a pictorial form are still more so, even though you see them straight.”

He had nothing to object.

“You may or may not be a student of history, being a newspaper worm, you might not have missed the fervent discussion, charges and counter charges which demanded the old books to be discarded and replaced by hastily written books with almost equal or only slightly less errors of facts and proportion. But one thing I can grant that the books on Ancient India, which cause all the bickering were more secular than the earlier ones which were deliberately made toxic highlighting the real or invented shortcomings and suppressing, ignoring, berating the positive achievements. By the time these books were introduced or likely to be introduced, the regime changed, reinstalling the same party in power which had allowed or got written those books, to aggravate promote unawares communalism in the garb of secularism.”

“I remember the verbal war in which you had so enthusiastically and doggedly participated while you yourself, may be out of politeness, do not call you a historian.”

“Are yaar, you were yourself present in one of the seminars to oppose a book before it was written and published, participated as speakers by actors, fiction writers and jokers, with one exception who had thrice chaired the Indian Council of Historical Research, but in view of the period he fared no better than others on the dais.There appeared nothing grotesque as all-along, their history had been promoted, protected and propagated as model of secularism by press, bureaucrats and politicians who fought rightist challenge in realpolitik and equated ancient India with them and as such had good belief that they could demolish them through demolition of the Indian past.”

“You were also present, why did you not present your point of view, there.”
“I do not discuss things which are in the making. This is cynical. I left as it was not a discussion on history book, but a disturbance that the books so ingeniously got prepared are likely to be replaced. Why should an authority on medieval India who did not write a single page of those books, knowing nothing about past through ancient sources go so mad at the very idea of their removal? I know but can not spell out. You know but show ignorance.

“Any way, in the course of that Newspaper war the mischief played and falsehood perfected was so nakedly exposed that come what may those books could hold no credence even with those who fought their electoral war.”

“You are vague? Will you ellucidate?”

“Even before the BJP came to power it had internationally been conceded that Harappan Civilization was authored by Indo-Aryan speaking people.”

“It was your thesis.”

“I did not invent anything, so call it a convergence of opinions from excavators, from genetic researchers, linguists, which I had collated and fortified beyond doubt giving exact or suggested names of the entire inventory of the material culture. But leave me aside, it was by now final that neither there was a society of Aryans, nor was there any migration of any people in any form except nominal stray movement from both sides in some context, so the entire edifice had turned upside down eroding the credibility of its upholders. The exchange of arguments was in this context merely of marginal importance.”

Why I call them criminally adamant to feed falsehood to those who depended for correct historical information and wisdom on them, knowing the facts and findings. They suppressed manuscripts that criticized their stand submitted for publication grants to ICHR, through their stooges whom they had inducted showing special favor. They rejected any research proposal that did not suit their cherished views. They, though only one case is in my knowledge, misused a work and published it in another name, if the scholar expired mean time. They created abnormal hurdle through procedural delay, during which time the contents of a work submitted could be misused and published before the work got clearance. If a work having made through all these hurdles, got exceptional attention of the readers they tried to subvert it through canard and promoting such scholars through extraordinary grace and resorted to despicable subterfuge to continue the discredited version through universities under their dominance, research institutions of advanced learning and of course through annual meetings of History Congress.” I paused to inquire, “Are you feeling bored?”

“Go on.”

“When the same person mad after Iranian supremacy knew for certain that the Aryan inroad is permanently blocked, he made a last attempt in the name of ‘Coming of Iron.” Remember, Ashvatthama maro naro va kunjaro (अश्वत्थामा मरो नरो वा कुन्जरो). And lo! This Themes of Indian History, in which the entire Vedic period was cross-jumped without a word lest the students should reset their mind with Indo-Aryans as autochthonous.”

Now you combine these links and try to find a different but apt epithet for them. Mind it in scientific language one thing can go by one name only, harsh and soft are extra-scientific categories. Truth in non-negotiable.

जमाना हंसता है मुझ पर तो उसको हंसने दें,
इतने लोगों की खुशी में हमारा हाथ तो है।।

मौत के बाद कुछ नहीं होता।
हम हैं तब तक जहान कायम है।

देखते रह गए जमीं वाले
हम चले अपने आसमानों को।