When contemporary politics is predicated on different readings of history, it is instructive to go back to historical works whose writings dominate present-day discourse. In this context, Banned and Censored: What the British Raj Didn’t Want Us to Read, selected and introduced by Devika Sethi, is an important and timely contribution to revisiting and examining history with a fresh perspective.
Sethi, who teaches Modern Indian History at IIT Mandi’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences, notes that the collection of texts is “united by their patriotic sentiments, their sense of mission and by the fact of their all being banned”.
Therefore, the texts of ideological opposites like Gandhi, V.D. Savarkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose among others are placed side by side. The book, divided into five parts, covers the period between 1900 and 1947 and deals with all hues of nationalist leaders.
Different facets
It also examines the use of provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections like 124A (sedition) and 153A (inciting class hatred) as tools to ban writings of the nationalists by the British Raj.
Quoting American academic N.G. Barrier’s study of banned literature and publications, Sethi writes that 8,000-10,000 individual titles were proscribed, and 2,000 newspapers were subjected to legal restraint during the last 40 years of colonial rule.
While the dissection of each of the proscribed texts is interesting in itself, examining Savarkar’s writings, especially his leaflet Oh Martyrs! to commemorate 50 years of the 1857 Revolt, bring out different facets of a personality who continues to dominate contemporary politics and news.
Portrait of right-wing ideologue Veer Savarkar on his 133 birth anniversary, at Central Hall of Parliament House, New Delhi. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
“The historian John R. Pincince has suggested that after Savarkar read this essay out at India House on the function to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the events of 1857, it was sent to various people in India. One prominent recipient, who complained to the chief secretary of the Government of UP [United Province] about it, was Madan Mohan Malaviya (1861-1946), associated both with the Indian National Congress and the Hindu Mahasabha (a Hindu nationalist organisation of which Savarkar was later to serve as president). Malaviya called it ‘a most seditious leaflet’ and asked the government to stop the circulation of ‘such poisonous matter’,” notes Sethi.
The book points out that while Savarkar is a “divisive figure” today, his views, particularly towards the Muslim community, evolved and became rigid later on in his life, compared to his early writings reflected in his book, The First War of Independence (1909).
“The feeling of hatred against the Mahomedans was just and necessary in the times of Shivaji — but, such a feeling would be unjust and foolish if nursed now, simply because it was the dominant feeling of the Hindus then,” wrote Savarkar in the introduction to his book.
Jawaharlal Nehru (left) and Mahatma Gandhi in conversation at the All-India Congress committee meeting in Bombay. | Photo Credit: Getty Images
Sethi also records Nehru’s views on Savarkar’s book. “In an essay titled ‘The Proscription and Censorship of Books’ written in 1929, Jawaharlal Nehru, with characteristic generosity towards political opponents, had this to say about the book: It is a brilliant book though it suffers from prolixity and want of balance occasionally. I had occasion to read it in Europe and I have often felt that a new edition, more concise and with many of the oratorical flights left out, would be an ideal corrective to the British propaganda about the events of 1857. But I’m afraid we shall have to wait for this till Swaraj comes.”
With Sethi’s note prefacing the historical context that led to banning of particular texts, the book serves as perfect reference for anyone interested in evolution of politics, law and modern Indian history.
Banned and Censored: What the British Raj Didn’t Want Us to Read; Selected and Introduced by Devika Sethi, Roli Books, ₹1,295.
sandeep.phukan@thehindu.co.in
Published - June 16, 2023 09:02 am IST
