Sunday Snippets: When our freedom struggle becomes a myth
By Venkatesh Raghavan
As we sat at our favourite Irani Cafe, my discussion with my friend Amir was about the drastic modifications in the NCERT history textbooks and how they can turn our freedom struggle into a myth. Our conversation went somewhat along these lines.
Amir: They have decided to drop all mention of Mughals from the school history textbooks. No idea where we’re heading to.
Me: Look at the positive side Amir. We will be able to make a new chapter if they insist on towing with this trend.
Amir: I am unable to fathom your logic, by heralding this act as a positive sign.
Me: It’s very simple if you draw a straight line graph from the point they are stationed right now.
Amir: What on earth has coordinate geometry to do with this monstrous behaviour of theirs?
Me: At this point, there are no Mughals in Indian history. Extrapolate it a little bit, there will be no British in Indian history. Extrapolate it further. There was no Congress rule in Indian history. An excellent situation that can only be explained by quantum theory.
Amir: Beats me how quantum theory can throw light on such an enormous act of monstrosity.
Me: As per the quantum theory, a pure vacuum cannot exist for long. Within a few microseconds, a subatomic particle will get created. Meaning, whenever a vacuum situation is created, there will be something to take up the space.
Amir: You are talking about vacuum and space. Enlighten me on how they correlate with the distortion of our history texts.
Me: Let’s take it step by step. There will be no mention of the Mughals. It means the Mughals never invaded and occupied India. Likewise, there is no mention of the British. It means Britain never invaded or occupied India.
Amir: You are trying to say no one invaded India. The Indian National Congress were a bunch of Don Quixotes waging imaginary battles against foreign oppressors.
Me: Amir, you didn’t get it fully correct. If the British never invaded and occupied India, there was no one to fight against and no one to rule the country. In short, the Congress Party never existed and neither did it govern the country. There was a huge vacuum in the power space.
Amir: You mean to say it was the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed saffron brigade that emerged to fill up the vacuum in our country’s power space?
Me: You got me right, Amir. Next time we see any presentation on our freedom struggle, make sure it gets filmed as mythology.
