Rahul Gandhi is the Nikole Hannah Jones of India, trying to create his own fabricated version of history and plant a new psyche of historical understanding on Indian masses.
When Oscar Wilde wrote, “The duty we owe to history is to re-write it”, he might not have imagined that people would go to great length to perform this duty, so much so that, they will make historical truths redundant and, in the process, weaponize it for current political requirements.
One such effort got shot in the arm in the year 2019 which happened to be 400th anniversary of so-called first landing of a batch of Black Slaves from Africa to Virginia. On this occasion, Nikole Hannah Jones, writing in New York Times Magazine, inaugurated a new version of History through her 1619 Project which tried to redefine America in a distorted way.
1619 Project premised its journalistic historical understanding on rejecting some of the established timeline markers of United States of America and planted a new one instead. It, in a way, rejected the American dateline of 1776 which in academic history is believed to be the philosophical exposition of America, with Revolutionary war against British, Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights heralding the beginning of USA.
While rejecting 1776, Nicole Hannah Jones went back in history and created another marker of 1619 and tries to re-define American History from the African American or Black’s perspective. By twisting the historical reality, she expounds falsely that the White Americans (colonies) fought the revolutionary war against the British Imperialism, solely to protect the institution of Slavery, which in her view, British Abolitionist Movement was heading towards abolishing it in the British empire. This fabrication was meant to create duality of perspective. Black Vs White, 1619 Vs 1776, Black Lives Matter Vs White Supremacism and Democrats Vs Republicans (role reversal: Republican were Pro-Black and Democrats were Anti-Black during Civil war 1861-65).
It was not only Nikole, but there were several other authors who wrote in that special edition of New York Time Magazine commemorating 400th anniversary of 1619. The range of topics they dealt with and the way they defined each of those issues like Democracy, Capitalism, Medicine, Music, Traffic, Law etc from Black’s perspective and against White Supremacism is an overkill of the issue.
Nikole wrote the piece, “Our Democracy's Founding Ideals Were False When They Were Written. Black Americans Have Fought to Make Them True”. Matthew Desmond went ahead and wrote, “American Capitalism Is Brutal. You Can Trace That to the Plantation”, thus blaming the whites for the evils of capitalism. Kevin Kruse went one step further and wrote about how racial segregation is responsible for traffic jams in America. Every aspect of American life was scrutinized and coloured with Black Vs White perspective, so much so that Wesley Morris wrote the piece, “Why Is Everyone Always Stealing Black Music?”.
Since 2019, post 1619 project, a plethora of literary work have emerged, re-defining America through semi-fabricated, half-truths and non-nuanced understanding of History. But this fabrication coincides with Presidential elections, and became an important tool for street mobilization, riots and anarchy. It served its purpose when Republican President was thrown out in 2020 and Democrat wrested control.
Many academic historians wrote against this fabrication of history, but more importantly, some of the Intellectuals of African American origin came out as strong critique of such false narratives. They believed that such distortion would rob off the Black people of their struggle and off their history. It will do injustice to their cause.
For us in India, Rahul Gandhi is the Nicole Hannah Jones, distorting history to suit his political needs. The clamour of Caste with high political decibels is quite like the Black raucous of 2019-20 America. From Babus in PMO to Loco pilots in railways, Rahul Gandhi has only Caste or Dalit terminology to describe and define. His overtly radicalized tone is a clamour to regain power. Probably, he does not believe in them, yet he will use this radicalism to ascent the ladder of political power.
Just as Hannah Jones changed the pivot of American discourse during 2020 elections in USA, India too is witnessing the same and its flag bearer in India is Rahul Gandhi. The only difference is, while in America they used Colour and Race, in India it is the Caste which is hung around the neck of every Hindu as albatross.
History is not always what victors write. Victor’s monumental history is eroded by those who lay claim to the throne. Latter’s myth, folk lore and sense of history when prevail over the body of masses, the monuments and monumental history of the existing rulers are smashed, crushed and demolished.
But, just like Blacks in America, Dalits or Backwards too, would be at loss from such distorted view of Indian history, society and its politics. Like a rifle shot, those making such distortions would be propelled forward in politics and career, while Dalits/Backwards would take the recoil.
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