When Atal Bihari government came to power in 1999, the one of the first things he did was the reconstitution of a committee to look into the issue of a biased history of India. Many ideologues have rued about the present shape of Indian history. Right wingers consider it as a history of congress. Left wingers term it as a history of elite upper-class Indians. Dalits term it as a history of upper caste coming to power.
Left has got some space in the current history because left cadre and Congress has certain linkages. Rightists have taken care of themselves by developing their alternate literature praising Savarkar and developing their own class of organic intellectual. They have established a chain of schools "Saraswati Vidya Mandir" where children are taught other side of history as well. Further, with gains in the foothold in the center, they can revise the history to reduce its distortion. Dalits found their voice in enormous work done by Ambedkar. Unfortunately, Muslims contribution was totally overshadowed by Muslim league. That is why many of us would find it difficult to even name five Muslim freedom fighter.
Recently, honorable minister Mr. Rajnath Singh was giving the speech in Rajya Sabha on the issue of freedom of expression. And in the process, he was remembering the contribution of Muslims in Indian freedom struggle. One could see him at a loss of words when he was recounting the names. He could mince beyond Ashfaqullah Khan. Though he managed the situation well but the same is true for most of us. Many Indians see Muslims as a cause of partition and forget the immense contribution in the freedom struggle by many Muslim luminaries based in India or abroad.
The list is quite long so no one article or an even a book can do justice with the topic. But I would mention some of the important and lesser known one highlighted by respected Sugata Bose in his speech in Lok Sabha on Intolerance. He began with the rightist territory and mentioned that It was Abid Husain who was the sole companion of Netaji during his difficult voyage from Europe to Asia. When Netaji planned his great escape from India, it was Mian Akbar Shah who received him in Peshawar. The first commander of INA northeast division was Mohammad Zaman Kiani and It was Shaukat Malik who had hoisted the first tricolor in Moirang. And remember who was the only Indian companion of Netaji in his controversial final flight , It was Mr. Habibur Rahman. And for whom the slogan of "Lal kile se aayi Awaz, Sahgal Dhillon ShanNawaz" were shouted? It was Shahnawaz Khan, an Indian Naval army officer.
If we move to some familiar names then It was Saifuddin Kitchlew in Punjab for whom support, Jaliawala Rally was organized. It was Prof. Maulana Barkat Ullah who was a founder member of Ghadar movement in Canada. It was Mohammad Obidullah Sindhi who established the first independent government of India in exile in Afganistan. In fact, when all the top leadership was in jail during quit India movement, it was Abdul Kalam Azad, our first education minister who was spearheading Congress.
The list is endless. The whole leadership of India's first independent movement during 1857 was Muslim as claimed by rightist history. Bakht Khan was first to lead the revolt in Meerut. Begum Hazarat Mahal in Oudh, Khan Bahadur Khan in Bareilly, Liyakat Ali in Allahabad provided decisive leadership but all we tend to remember is Tatya Tope and Rani Jhansi.
The contribution of Syed Ahmad Khan and Kavi Nazrul Islam could not be undermined by any ideology-driven interpretation or any wave of the history of freedom struggle. The leadership of congress party itself tells about the role of Muslims in building congress and keeping the momentum of the freedom struggle. The learned Badruddin Taiyyab Ji provided guidance in the initial years. Hakim Azmal Khan, Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, and Hasarat Mohani each served as president of Indian National Congress. But how many of those names a common man or even a home minister remembers?
It is high time that we should also have a Muslim perspective of Indian history. I am sure that scholars must have worked on these front. But it should not remain limited to textbooks. Rather it should be taught actively in our schools so that the large proportion of frustrated, prejudiced and Musalman abhorring and Musalman suspicious junta will get their facts right. As Plato once mentioned, One who know the right thing will do the right deed. So if we wish to kill the evil of communal fundamentalism, we need to know the right history.
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