Journal of Political Sciences & Public Affairs
Open Access
ISSN: 2332-0761
ISSN: 2332-0761
Review - (2022)Volume 10, Issue 1
This paper seeks to understand and analyse the transformative and transitional aspect of national identity in India. National identities, it's argued, have emerged either out of a civic model that originated in the European context and, was mediated by factors such as territory, political equality, ideology, and political culture among others; or it followed the path of an ethnic model that evolved in most non-western societies and were predominantly shaped by the local rituals and traditions, popular mobilization, vernacular language, customs and so on. This paper argues that the post-colonial state of India has followed both models of national identity. The journey of the Post-Colonial State of India started with the civic model which has now transitioned into an ethnic model with variations in the intensity of the transitions. The discourse of Indian identity, India's secular identity (Civic Model) considers the internal diversity of the country as the main basis of India's national identity. India's multi-linguistic, multi-religious, multicaste, and democratic system with equal rights defines India's secular state. The Hindu nationalist identity (Ethnic Model) of India consists of the idea of majority religiosity, homogeneous ethnicity and the division of self (Hindu) and Other (Muslims/Christians). The Hindu nationalist identity seeks to define the Indian nation based on Hindu religiosity and caste homogeneity. The paper will interrogate how have the shifts in national identity been manifested, contested, constructed and impacted Indian Politics.
Civic; Ethnic; National Identity; India, Secular; Hindu; Politics.
Contemporary identities can be understood only through the knowledge of history because history itself presents identity to its social and collective consciousness. A deep connection exists between history and identity, both interdependent and influencing each other. And this is also true in the context of the nation-state, because every state needs an identity to maintain its legitimacy and this identity is obtained by the states through their history.
History textbooks hold a special place in the context of national identity. It can be said that there is a close link between national identity, history and school textbooks. History textbooks are like a political tool, which is used to introduce identity based politics into society. The state's control over knowledge formation and knowledge sharing directly gives a space to identity politics. This has been the case of India. History textbooks have always been the centre of much discussion or conflict in the context of school textbooks in India. Identity politics is also central to the textbook controversy in India [1].
The discourse of Indian identity, whether it is secular identity or Hindu identity, considers the textbook as a means of disseminating a particular national identity and history. India's secular identity, rejecting the homogeneous treatment of European national identity, considers the internal diversity of the country as the main basis of India's national identity. India's multi-linguistic, multi-religious, multi-caste, and democratic system with equal rights defines India's secular ideology. The Hindu nationalist identity of India consists of the idea of majority religiosity, homogeneous ethnicity and the division of self (Hindu) and Other (Muslims/Christians). The Hindu nationalist identity, like European identity, seeks to define the Indian nation on the basis of Hindu religiosity and caste homogeneity.
History textbooks in India are directly related to the formation of national identity on the one hand, while on the other hand the textbooks clearly show the conflict of two opposite identities. The main reason for this is that history is influenced by the different ideas of these two identities, which presents two different types of interpretation of history. These two different interpretations of histories represent two different identities which I call the ‘Politics of History’.
The Hindu Nationalists interpretation of Indian history is mainly influenced by colonial and nationalist writings. Just as colonialists and nationalists recognized the religion-based division of Indian history, Hindu Nationalists interpretation also recognizes this division. For the Hindu Nationalists Indian history is made up of differences, animosity and opposing sentiments of two different religious communities, where ancient history is the symbol of Hindu history, while medieval history is of Muslims. Similar to nationalist historiography, Hindu Nationalists interpretation views Hindu history as an idea of pride. Hindu nationalists believe that Hindu ancient times were the time when Hindu philosophy and religion expanded, Hinduism was present at high prosperity, scientific achievements were in front, great books were written, the social structure was formed by the idea of united society, All classes, groups, people were present together peacefully, there was no conflict of any kind, life was full of happiness. In the medieval history (Muslim history) the great civilization of Hindus declined and their self-identity also went down. According to Hindutva, this whole time was the time of exploitation of Hindus, hatred of Hindus, conversion to Islam, destruction of Hindu knowledge, destruction of Hindu places and temples. Medieval Indian history was a dark time for the Hindus. During this time there were neither any major social change nor any discovery, but this whole time was the time of Muslim autocracy. According to Lars Tore Flaten and Sudhir Kakkar, the Hindu interpretation is derived from the idea of Hindu-Muslim homogeneity and the division of conflicting relations with the Muslim 'other' [2]. Hindu nationalists feel that the fundamental fact of Indian history is that Hindus and Muslims are separate from each other, and can never be one, as both have completely opposite identities based on their religion. The kind of image that is created in the context of Muslim-Hindu relations, it seems that Hindu tolerance and Muslim intolerance are normal, and Muslim tolerance and Hindu intolerance are unusual. History interpretation considers ancient history as golden age, medieval and colonial times as symbols of exploitation, oppression, autocracy, tyranny.
Secular interpretation of Indian history is directly related to Marxist interpretation, the same interpretation exists in stark contrast to Hindu Nationalists interpretation. The secular interpretation first of all completely rejects the rationality of the supremacy of religious categories in the representation of the history and past of the Hindu interpretation. According to the secular interpretation, neither Hindu nor Muslim is a homogeneous community; the boundaries of these communities are not fixed but open and flexible. While the idea of similarity is at the heart of the Hindu interpretation, the secular interpretation emphasizes the idea of difference. Secular interpretation, according to Martha Nussbaum and Kakkar, is based on the ideas of pluralism, complexities, differences, harmony, coexistence, tolerance, the centre of history is not religious communities and their religious identity, but political and economic ideologies [3]. Secularists believe that Hindu and Muslim are a new and modern classification and that pre-colonial history was merely a symbol of a cohesive and syncretic culture. The British regime made these classifications opposite to each other so as not to challenge their social status and they themselves remained internally divided. The secular interpretation completely rejects the role of the 'other' idea of the Hindu interpretation, but the secular interpretation, in keeping with the positive values of liberalism, presents a unitary, syncretic and co-existentialist identity of Indian history. According to Sylvie Guichard, where the Hindutva interpretation represents the 'enemy' form of history, in which the enemies are Muslims, secularists, Christians. The same secular interpretation represents the 'defender' form of history, where it defends secularism, tolerance, rationality, and other liberal values [4].
Politics of history textbooks
The conflict between the secular interpretation and the Hindu interpretation has given rise to the politics of history where this politics of history is directly linked to the textbooks which give rise to the ‘politics of history textbooks’. Textbooks are used universally and form an important part of the school curriculum. The school system in India is based on the classroom system, the main centre of knowledge and teaching in the classroom is the textbooks published by the central or state governments. Reading of textbooks is the minimum, compulsory activity of school education.
Textbook culture emerged in India during the British rule. Colonial rule in the 19th and 20th centuries established the modern education system in India. The main part of this education system was the textbooks which were written by British administrative bureaucrats and 'externally enlightened' people. These textbooks were influenced by colonial historiography, due to which the colonial interpretations of history could be clearly seen in these textbooks. These textbooks represented and dominated the values and visions of the colonial bureaucracy (ruler), where indigenous knowledge and culture had no place. It presented that exact reality which served the ideological interests of the ruling class. The colonial textbooks were explicitly based on a division of 'self' and 'other'. The supremacy of the 'self' and the negativity and inferiority of the 'other' were central to the textbooks.The importance of textbooks and their use as political tools in India was a purely colonial idea, which we adopted equally after independence.
After independence, the control of the production and distribution of textbooks fell into the hands of an independent Indian state. The first phase was dominated by 'Secular History Textbooks' which began in the 1960s with the first stream text books of NCERT which were used in schools till 2002. Secular History Textbooks were the earliest textbooks of NCERT written by eminent historians of India who were influenced by Marxist writings and interpretations. Influence of Marxist writings and Marxist’s direct relation to secular interpretation, these textbooks has their secular identity. Guichard offers four points that represent the dimension of secular national identity in history textbooks. First, these textbooks denied the role of religion in the context of history. Second, challenged and criticized the glorious character of the Hindu past and the demonic character of the Muslim period. Third, the ideas of tolerance and harmony and fourth, the Congress party was presented as the sole representative of the Indian nation.The main basis of these textbooks was to look at history from a secular point of view, to establish Hindu-Muslim unity, to advance the ideology of Congress and Nehru after independence. The main task of these textbooks was to forge the secular national identity of India. Secular interpretation of history was kept in mind when this textbooks written, which was based on secularism, national unity, tolerance, harmony, scientific rationality etc.
The second phase emerged as the growth of Hindu nationalism and the challenge of secular textbooks. It began with the change in state-level textbooks in the 1990s and later with the introduction of new NCERT textbooks after Hindu nationalists came to power which can be called 'Hindu Nationalists History Textbook'. With the challenge of secular textbooks, Hindu history textbooks were born in India. Criticism of previous textbooks based on two arguments, first that these textbooks rejected the specific contribution of Hindu civilization, while the oppression and exploitation by Muslims and Islam were not presented properly and medieval history was treated as social and economic terms rather than in a religious conflict way. History was presented in these text books in such a way that Indian identity can be understood almost exclusively by Hindu identity. According to Maria Lall and Lars Tore Flaten, the Hindu nationalist textbooks represented two things. First, Hindu cultural equality, homogeneity and supremacy and secondly, the demonization of Muslims and Islam. Hindu nationalist textbooks were completely influenced by Hindu interpretation and by the idea of Hindu identity and nation [5].
The Discourse of National Identity in India presents an explanation of history based on two distinct identities. At the same time, especially school textbooks have become a political tool for these identities as well as a place of conflict between identities. Both identities have used these textbooks to establish their respective national identities. Apart from this, they only presented history and not the histories and the group of women, dalits, farmers, labourers and subaltern classes has not been given any place in the history of the nation. Secular textbooks recognize events and stories that establish the values of syncretism, tolerant and secular identity, without mentioning events opposing them. On the other hand Hindu textbook in history only depict the tales of Hindu kings and Muslim exploitation, and the architectural achievements of Muslim rule and Political unification of India does not find mention in the textbooks. While in secular textbooks the pace of history is determined by the centre of secular values, in Hindu textbooks it is associated with the idea of Hindu unity and anti 'other' elements. The secular textbooks consider the Nehruvian state as the end of history; the Hindu textbooks recognize the ongoing struggle between self and other.
There emerged the third phase which was different from the other two phases, not only in ideological form but also in research form via 'Beyond Secular and Hindu' textbooks (after 2005). These NCERT textbooks went beyond secular and Hindu history and made a critical history their basis. According to Guichard, these textbooks represented good quality, innovative material and a non-partisan history. The main goal of these textbooks was to establish the link between local, national and trans-national history, so that the essence of history is not the nation but the collective association of all three. At the heart of these textbooks was the concept of transnational history.Therefore, I consider these textbooks to be textbooks that went beyond Hindu and secular textbooks.
Apart from the NCERT textbooks, in the states where the Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata Party is ruled, the textbooks contain biased facts related to communal fundamentalism and Hindu identity. For example, in 2017 the Rajasthan government introduced new textbooks which were completely influenced by Hindu nationalist ideology. In these textbooks we clearly see historical domination of Hindu History, For example, Vedic myths as truth, Hindu medieval and ancient rulers were presented in glory, establishing the independence movement as a violent struggle led by Hindu patriots [6].
School history textbooks everyday represents nation and national identity and carries through society a common notion of collective belonging. It is clear from the analysis that the political class in power (a particular political party or individual leadership) creates its own special national identity through school textbooks so that its rule can get legitimacy and consent. For example, when Congress was in power, there were secular history textbooks, but as the Bharatiya Janata Party took control, the essence of history textbooks became Hindu. History text books in both the nations represent traditional history textbooks in which the essence of history is only identity centered. School textbooks create an identity for the nation-state and this work is very quiet and slow due to which it never becomes a part of large political controversy. And in the end, national identity is formed through school textbooks and the politics of national identity is the main basis of history textbooks, which I call ‘Politics of History Textbooks’.
Citation: Kumar J (2022) History, National Identity and Politics of History Textbooks in India. J Pol Sci Pub Aff. 10:417
Received: 18-Feb-2022, Manuscript No. JPSPA-22-15242; Editor assigned: 21-Feb-2022, Pre QC No. JPSPA-22-15242 (PQ); Reviewed: 07-Mar-2022, QC No. JPSPA-22-15242; Revised: 11-Mar-2022, Manuscript No. JPSPA-22-15242 (R); Accepted: 14-Mar-2022 Published: 18-Mar-2022 , DOI: 10.35248/2332-0761.21.10.003
Copyright: © 2022 Kumar J. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.