Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

`Proper interpretation of history needed'

Staff Reporter

Communalists have no fixed economic agenda: Bipan Chandra

ENGROSSED IN DISCUSSION: Bipan Chandra and K.N. Panikkar at the Puthupally Raghavan Memorial Lecture organised by Kerala Council for Historical Research in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. Photo : S. Mahinsha

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Communalism could be fought effectively only by the proper interpretation of history, according to Bipan Chandra, the chairman of National Book Trust (NBT).

Delivering the Puthuppally Raghavan Memorial Lecture on "Communalism and the Writing of Indian History," organised here on Sunday by the Kerala Council for Historical Research (KCHR), at the National Book Fair sponsored by the NBT, he observed that communalists did not have any fixed economic agenda. Similarly, their support to or attack on democracy also varied according to situations.

Communalists could not tolerate a scientific interpretation of religion. Medieval history was misinterpreted by the British, who could only occupy India knowing fully well that they could not rule India for too long. Therefore, they resorted to a `divide and rule' policy, on the basis of region, language, religion, caste and gender. Medieval chronicles were written by the priestly class and history thus became that of the elite. They did not represent social, cultural or political life of common people.

Indian history was bifurcated in terms of religion of the rulers, into Hindu rule and Muslim rule in the country. Religious intolerance and forced conversion were described as the hallmark of Muslim rule. Muslim communalists propagated that they were a minority in order to create a sense of fear and insecurity among the Muslims. An impression was also sought to be created that they would be outvoted in a democracy. Similarly, Hindus spread the notion that they were a dying race. Since moderate communalism would not help, the tendency has been to go for communalism of hatred.

Fundamentalism should not be mixed with communalism, as a person could be a fundamentalist without being a communalist, Prof. Bipan Chndra opined. M.A. Jinnah was a moderate fundamentalist, but still a real communalist. Mahatma Gandhi was a secular fundamentalist. Savarkar was a public atheist, propagating atheism simultaneously with Hindutva.

In the United States, supposed to be a secular State, the Darwin Theory is not taught in most schools even today, he said.

K.N. Panikkar, chairman, KCHR, who presided over the function, hailed the contributions of Puthuppally Raghavan who had a total commitment towards preserving historical evidence. He had perhaps the best collection on modern history of Kerala. The Jawaharlal Nehru University had in its archives some of those collections. However, Kerala has not made an effective use of these rich collections, Dr. Panikkar lamented.

Even the voluminous autobiography of Puthuppally Raghavan has not received the recognition due to it. Dr. Panikkar asked the NBT to condense and publish it at least for the sake of posterity.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Peptic ulcer linked to poor oral hygiene, says study
`Communalists have no fixed economic agenda'
`Proper interpretation of history needed'
State literacy workers script a success story
Police affidavit on Karipur incidents flayed
Challenging task
HIV: panel suggests antigen test
`CPI(M) whipping up communal passions'
Four suspects involved in attack identified
Enclosure for panther to be ready soon
LDF, UDF should stop fooling people, says Rajagopal
Cases against illegal lotteries being withdrawn, says Jacob
KSFDC in financial crisis, say unions
Snapshots from the past
Next issue
Felicitated
Around the City
In Thiruvananthapuram Today
Reader's Mail
Campus Notes

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu