Flights Of Fantasy
[ M Panging Pao ]
A few days back, India celebrated the 78th Independence Day. Since 1947, India has transformed and progressed tremendously. Today India is an upcoming superpower and is the fifth largest economy in the world.
Before independence, India was ruled by a series of foreign invaders, including British rule for 200 years, Mughal rule for 231 years, and other Muslim invaders’ rule for 320 years, totalling about 750 years, starting about 1,200 AD. Most invaders came to India looking for the rich Indian treasures, fertile land and rich culture. During these long periods, most of these foreign invaders looted India’s treasures andexploited the Indians. They also imposed their religion, way of life, philosophy, art and culture, and architecture on the Indians. Having done that, these foreign invaders imposed their ideas, philosophy, and thought process on us.
These foreign forces destroyed our universities, gurukuls, higher institutions of learning, imposed their ideas and narrative on the population. They adopted the principles of divide and rule to subdue the local population. They created false narratives of high/low caste, tribals, plains/hills people, etc. The British forced narrative was so strongly embedded into our minds and soul that even after independence these false narratives were continued in our syllabi in schools and colleges.
Students read about Akbar-Birbal, Shahjahan-Taj Mahal, Humayun, Babur, Aurangzeb, etc, and their ‘heroic’ stories. We even named major towns, monuments, roads, chowks with British/Mughal names like Connaught Place, Aurangzeb/Akbar Road, Victoria Terminal, Victoria Memorial, Miranda College, Lawrence School, King George Military School, Lady Keane, St Anthony,etc. Though we achieved independence, we were indoctrinated with the foreign ideology and philosophy.
Gallant stories of local heroes like Lachit Barphukan, Kanaklata Barua, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Rani Gaidinliu, Birsa Munda, Tirot Sing Syiem, and Bir Tikendrajit Singh were not included in the syllabi. In Arunachal also, very few people knew about our local freedom fighters like Matmur Jamoh, Ketong Perme, Borkeng Tayeng, Lomkom Darang, Kengki Megu, Liyung Taki, and many others. In fact, some of the largest slaughter of British forces occurred in Arunachal. In 1875, in Ninu village of Longding district, 80 British troops, including their leader Lieutenant Holcombe, were massacred by local warriors, including chief Khunjing Wangham, Wangchin Wangsapa, and other warriors. Similarly,in 1894, 60 British forces were slaughtered at Bodak (Ayeng) in East Siang district by local Adi warriors disguised as porters. There are others like Major Bob Khating, who threw out the Tibetan governors from Dirang and Tawang in Arunachal.
Many decades after independence also, our students are still studying about Mughal and British history. These Mughal/British stories were selectively inserted into our textbooks to indoctrinate our students towards a particular ideology and thought process.
Isn’t it time to rectify this major lacuna in our syllabi and text books? Instead of studying about foreign invaders, we should read and learn about our own indigenous freedom fighters and heroes. Else are we truly independent? (The contributor is retired Group Captain, Indian Air Force)
