'Communities should stop glorifying barbarians of the past': Sanjeev Sanyal's Pakistan reference at Rising Bharat Summit

Sanjeev Sanyal

Amid the ongoing discourse on the need to revisit certain aspects of Indian history and political parties allegedly weaponizing history against certain communities, acclaimed historian and Columnist Vikram Sampath on Tuesday observed that it is essential to de-hyphenate certain periods of history or rulers from communities while revisiting 'uncomfortable moments' of history.

Partaking in a discussion with renowned economist Sanjeev Sanyal during the News 18's Rising Bharat Summit, the historian also noted that just as de-hyphenation is important to have a richer reading of our past, communities should refrain from idolizing barbarians of the past. Economist and academician Sanyal also added that glorifying barbarians of the past can have dire consequences, citing the example of Pakistan-- the country in naming their missiles after Mahmud of Ghazni and Muhammad of Ghori.

Speaking on the the delicate separation of history and politics, Sanyal added that historical events will have a bearing on the happenings of the present. However, how past events dictate the political discourse of the day is up to the politicians to decide.

The primary facts are that Aurangzeb did carry out large number of massacre of Hindus for religious bigotry. Now what Aurangzeb did in the past does to the politics of today, that is for politicians to decide. We won't have peace of any kind if we don't confront the past, remarked Sanyal.

The academicians reading of the current social milieu and juxtaposing it with historically events assumes great importance in the wake of series of motivated events that saw certain communities being targeted over happenings and their endearment of particular historical figures. On March 17, tensions escalated in Nagpur when protesters demanding the demolition of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb’s tomb allegedly burnt a chadar.

Underlining how communities should not whitewash history to suit their needs, Sampath said, "We should not whitewash history to suit our present needs with the caveat that we are not holding today's communities responsible for the barbarians of the past neither should they glorify them. Taking the discussion forward, Sanyal added that Pakistan named their missiles after Ghazni and Ghori. That's what happens when you glorify barbarians of the past."

Reflecting on how historical discourses are generally presented, Sanjeev Sanyal remarked: "The way history has been taught, the narrative is that India had a long history of defeats. Even our freedom struggle is taught in a peculiar way where British were asked to politely leave by Gandhi. History is completely different from what we have been told. The largest hindu temple in the world is in Cambodia. Hinduism was clearly everywhere in the world."

Reiterating history is a constant dialogue between historians and their sources and interpretation, Vikram Sampath said: Indian history has had a terrible trend to deny the uncomfortable truths of our past. Our popular history narrative falsely assume that talking about the truths of the past will upset our present communities. Muslims of today are not responsible for what the barbarians did in the past.