Independence Day: Greatest Indian Myth Ever

I’m late for the Independence Day, but I did not want to write a post just for the heck of it. So I was hunting to write something worth the occasion.

I found something that is invaluable.

We’re entering into a new phase and our nation is taking a new shape. We need to learn from the mistakes of our past. And here, I am talking about something that I consider our biggest mistake as a nation - and it’s high time we correct it.

Please read this with an open mind.

This is an excerpt from an article that appeared in Hindustan Times (15th August, 2006) written by Manu Joseph.

Culture is a transaction between well-fed people. Always remember, a Brahmin dance is culture, tribals jumping over shifting bamboos is folk. In most nations, tradition was once the memory of the rich that slowly became the memory of all. Then they began to measure their inheritance against the inheritances of others in other lands. And in this, Indians have always excelled. Ours is the best, biggest, greatest civilization. Others were nomads and whores. Sometimes we behave as though no other country has heritage or morality. Embarrassed by the miseries around it, the notorious Indian elite has for long never let facts interfere with national pride. And that trait has continued till today, fanning such rubbish like India has never invaded another land. And this thing called the Indian brain.
   Kumarmangalam Birla, a victim of the myths his countrymen have spread, said at a summit that Indians occupy more than one third of NASA’s scientific force. It is in line with other favorable fractions claimed by Indians in science. But the truth is different. For example, less than 6% of NASA’s scientists are Asian Americans. Most of India’s three lakh engineering graduates today are not directly employable even here, and in fact there is a crisis of qualified manpower.
   In the list of the great Indian myths given below, a few examples had to be grudgingly omitted because disproving them is a matter of opinion. Like the claim that legendary cricketer Ranjitsingh invented the leg glance. It is this reporter’s contention that a leg glance cannot be invented. Any boy who accepts that a straight bat is a virtue will naturally discover the stroke. Also omitted from the list are obvious urban legends like the Indian rope trick, and that Sourav Ganguly is an all-rounder.

Freedom movement won us freedom    
It is not a state secret that the effects of World War Two and the tremors of revolt in Indian armed forces greatly inspired the English to leave. The freedom movement was the face of an inevitability. It was not the only force that won India freedom.
   In fact, according to Clement Attlee who was Britain’s prime minister at the time of independence, the role of the Quit India Movement was, “minimal”. P. V. Chuckraborty, former chief justice of Calcutta High Court, says in a letter that when he met Attlee in 1956, he had asked, “The Quit India Movement of Gandhi practically died out long before 1947 and there was nothing in the Indian situation at that time which made it necessary for the British to leave India in a hurry. Why then did they do so?” Attlee replied that the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny of 1946 and the activities of the Indian National Army were the main factors.
   Even if one takes into account a possibility that history is often colored by prejudices of men who are reluctant to grant Gandhi his place, the role of international politics in India’s freedom is beyond dispute. In the first half of the 20th century, all over the world, the time was up for the British. Without the revolutions of Gandhi and other sepia barristers, Sri Lanka won its freedom in 1948. It is not a coincidence that the tryst with destiny there came around the same time as it did in India. The world was changing and it was in Britain’s interest to shrink.

And we fight over greatness of Gandhi or Bhagat Singh! (And Rajkumar Santoshi benefits from our patriotism even after portraying distorted history). And then there is Shivaji chapter! And so on…

I completely believe in the Freedom Movement Myth explained by Manu Joseph. But, I don’t - in any way - mean to cast any doubt on the greatness of Gandhiji. He was a great man. I don’t admire him as a freedom fighter but as a human being.

Anyway, coming back to the topic, I also don’t believe that freedom movement was not at all important. I just feel that it is not worth the importance that we’re laying on it. Hundreds of films, books and all the history literature filled with freedom movement. We study the whole freedom movement twice in our school; just check out the textbooks. And even if we keep aside the myth of freedom movement, it is very important for us to note and “accept” that there are innumerable myths that fuel our patriotism and create various issues like Western influence. Every culture influences the other when they come in contact. Western culture has influenced our lifestyle while ours has done the same to their lifestyle.

For more reading:

Great Myths of Indian History: Times of India