?THE most prominent among these new leaders were Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Bipin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai and Aurobindo Ghosh. They came to be known as extremists.? (Modern India, Social Science, Part 1, Arjun Dev & Indira Arjun Dev, Class VIII)
?But the revolutionary young men did not try to generate a mass revolution. Instead, they decided to copy the methods of the Irish terrorists and the Russian Nihilists, that is, to assassinate two unpopular officials. A beginning had been made in this direction when in 1897 the Chapekar brothers assassinated two unpopular British officials at Poona. In 1904, VD Savarkar had organised the Abhinava Bharat, a secret society of revolutionaries. After 1905, several newspapers had begun to advocate revolutionary terrorism. The Sandhya and Yugantar in Bengal, and the Kal in Maharashtra were the most prominent among them. (Modern India, Bipin Chandra, Class XII)
?Terrorism too gradually petered out. In fact, terrorism as a political weapon was bound to fail. It would not mobilise the masses; in fact it had no base among the people. But the terrorists did make a valuable contribution to the growth of nationalism in India. As a historian has put it, ?they gave us back the pride of our manhood. Because of their heroism, the terrorists became immensely popular among their compatriots even though most of politically conscious people did not agree with their political approach. (Modern India, Bipin Chandra, Class XII)
These are some of the passages that have been mentioned in the history textbooks. It is shocking that the expert committee constituted by the NCERT should try to justify the use of the words terrorism and terrorists for the revolutionary movement, which form one of the most glorious and inspiring phase of our long and august freedom struggle. Perceptive nationalist historians have described it as first war of independence but it seems our Marxist historians still love to use the language of their colonial masters. It is beyond our imagination that great patriots like Lokmanya Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Hardyal, Khudi Ram Bose could be termed as terrorists by any present Indian historians.
See some more passages.
?With the collapse of Japan in the War during 1944-45 the INA too met defeat and Subhas Bose was killed in an aeroplane accident on his way to Tokyo.? (Modern India, Bipin Chandra, Class XII)
?However the attempt to liberate India by the Azad Hind Fauj failed.? (Modern India, Bipin Chandra, Class XII)
VICTIMS OF TOXIC DISTORTION | ||
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| Tilak | Lala Lajpat Rai | Aurobindo |
The expert committee still holds the view that Netaji Subash Bose died in an air crash. They do not take note of the powerful opinion, which was recently echoed by the Mukherji Commission, that all the evidences available to it go to prove that Netaji did not die in an air crash. This view is supported by the official statement from Government of Taiwan. Leftist elergy for Netaji is too well known. The filthy abuses such as Tojo'sdog hurled upon are deeply engraved in the national memory.
But to pass a verdict that ?The attempt to liberate India by Azad Hind Fauj failed? is to display complete ignorance of the fact that the formation and patriotic role, played by the Azad Hind Fauj, was an important factor in the British withdrawal from India. Contemporary parliamentary debates and media reports in Britain testify this notion.
Now have a look at this passage. ?Political movements based on their ideas grew in almost every part of the world with a view to establishing socialism. In 1917 the first successful revolution of the type advocated by these thinkers occurred in Russia. It resulted in the overthrow of the autocratic rule of Czars.? (Modern India, Social Science Part 1, Arjun Dev & Indira Arjun Dev, Class VIII)
History books need revision and updating in the light of latest historical data and researches. The recent re-evaluation of 1917 political change in Russia demands that Lenin and the so-called revolution ought to be presented in right perspective. Now in Russia Czars are being rehabilitated and the tyranny and dictatorial methods of Lenin are being exposed on the basis of new archives data.
(The author is a noted historian and columnist.)
