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Journalism of Courage
Indians fought Islamic rule for 1,000 years but did not feel small, however, in just 150 years of British rule, Indians began feeling inferior, RSS Sar Karyavah (General Secretary) Dattatreya Hosabale said on Friday.
“Do we have a standing in the world? Or are we a beaten and defeated lot who have given nothing to the world? Or are we those who gave multiple ideas to the world? We fought and struggled for 1,000 years. We fought against Mughals, even faced defeats several times. But never did the educated and intellectual class of the time think that these outsiders were better than us or were more civilised or racially superior. However, unfortunately, during 150 years of British rule, the intellectual class of India began to believe that we are small, unintelligent, uncivilised and a lot that has contributed nothing to the world. We started hating ourselves,” Hosabale said during a book launch event here.
Hosabale was speaking at the launch of ‘Narrative Ka Mayajaal’, a book written by senior columnist and former Rajya Sabha member Balbir Punj. Hosabale has written the foreword for the book that discusses how narratives can shape identities of civilisations. The event also had Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and lawyer and columnist J Sai Deepak among key speakers.
Hosabale said even if it is conceded that Indians accepted their humiliation due to slavery under the British, it should have been corrected after Independence.
“But no, we got into competition of exhibiting more slavish mindset. Why did this happen? Because a certain narrative was set through universities, think tanks, international media, opinion making and through judiciary. There was an attempt to create contempt for every issue associated with Bharat, Hindu and Sanatan. A narrative was created that these were anti-development, anti-science, anti-human, etc.,” Hosabale said.
The RSS general secretary questioned the idea of citizenship as it is understood in the modern world.
“Is citizenship and nationality the same thing? Citizenship is a politico-legal status, whereas nationality is a socio-cultural concept. Shouldn’t this be debated? We have ended up incorporating Euro-centric ideas into our life, our education curriculum, governance, intellectual discourse, media debates and our view of our society. We have to come out of this slavery. We have to decolonise our minds to understand who we are,” he said.
Hosabale also said that to understand India, one had to understand Sanskrit. “But no one wants to study it. People say it is a dead language, a language of the Brahmins, a language of exploitation. Such things have been said for the past 150 years, particularly the last 75 years. So, Sanskrit was removed and so was Indian thought,” Hosabale said.
Talking about Punj’s book, Hosabale said if one wants to talk about India to Indians, it must be said in an Indian language.
“In our country, if you write in English, the book will be sold in Khan market and you will be considered an intellectual. We have to break this narrative. So, it is important that people write in Hindi,” he said.
