Guwahati: Let us assume that there is a war between A and B.
A is a hero while B is a villain. A beats B, and by doing so becomes a hero for his people.
Centuries later, some people decide to remove B’s name from the history books for whatever reason.
What, then, happens to the achievements of A, whose claim to fame was beating B?
In the northeast, and especially Assam, this is what is happening, and experts believe this is a red flag.
The achievements of Ahom General Bir Lachit Barphukan and Ahom dynasty’s Mula Gabharu could be diminished if chapters on Mughals from Indian history books are removed, say experts.
Bir Lachit Barphukan, the great general of the Ahom kingdom of Assam who defeated the Mughals and halted their expansion into Assam in the second half of the 17th century, could become an ‘unsung hero’ for the next generation following the removal of chapters on the Mughal Empire.
The victory over the Mughals in the Battle of Saraighat in 1671 in the face of overwhelming odds is seen as a landmark event for Assam and northeast history.
The story of Mula Gabharu, daughter of the Ahom king, Supimphaa, and the wife of the Borgohain Phrasengmung, could also become a casualty. She organised women warriors after her husband had fallen in battle against Turbak, an invader sent by the Sultan of Bengal in 1532, and she fell in the Battle of Kachua.
Commenting on the issue, former Dean of Social Sciences at the North-eastern Hill University (NEHU), Shillong, Dr Apurba Kumar Baruah, said: “Mughals established the biggest empire in the sub-continent, left remarkable monuments, initiated a revenue administration that spread even to the Ahom Kingdom…deletion of Mughal achievements will create huge problems in teaching history. This attempt to try and forget Mughal history will make it impossible to teach about heroes like Shivaji or even Lachit too, which will be sad,” Baruah said.
Manimugdha S Sharma, pursuing a PhD in History at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and the author of the book Allahu Akbar: Understanding the Great Mughal in Today’s India, said: “Many of our popular historical characters’ significance is relative to the Mughals. Lachit Barphukan in Assam, Shivaji in Maharashtra, and Rana Pratap in Rajasthan, all fought the Mughals. If the Mughals did not exist, their significance wouldn’t too.”
“If we specifically look at Assam’s history, many of the celebrated names such as Atan Burhagohain, Bagh Hazarika, and Mula Gabharu fought against armies sent by the Mughals and sultanates of Bengal. If you take out these Sultanates from the record, then whom did these warriors fight to achieve their unique status in popular memory?” Sharma questioned.
“Also, beyond their military resistance, there is nothing much in the lives of these heroes to make them stand out. In fact, we do not know much about what they did for their subjects, how well they managed their kingdoms or provinces, etc. And there lies the tragedy of our times—history is reduced to a celebration or a lament of wars and battles, of the rise and fall of empires and dynasties,” Sharma added.
Retired IAS officer and an Assamese writer Laxmi Nath Tamuly said: “If the Mughal or ‘Muslim’ chapters of the medieval Indian history, which cover centuries, are removed, it will be like trying to keep a human body alive after cutting the body vertically.”
Commenting on the issue, Assam Higher Secondary Education CAHSEC) secretary Pulak Patgiri said, “We have not received any instruction from the state government. But we follow the NCERT curriculum. If NCERT removes these chapters we have nothing to do with it.”
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The leader of the opposition in the Assam legislative Assembly, Debabrata Saikia has also accused the BJP of attempting to rewrite history.
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