Meghnad Desai admits in the preface that it is an ambitious book. Written by “someone who cannot claim to be a professional historian”, the book is the author’s own and “somewhat opinionated” account of how India became a nation. In the process, it outlines a new premise based on which Indians should “rediscover” the new India.
That premise rejects the earlier belief that the story of India began in the Vedic ages or later in the medieval period. India during those days did not exist as a single political or even a cultural entity. Desai’s obvious target of attack is Jawaharlal Nehru’s The Discovery of India, where its author had portrayed the idea of the Indian nationhood as a seamless evolution over the ages through various cultures and political systems.
Nor does the story of India stop at 1947, Desai argues. Indeed, the story begins after 1947 when India as a new nation state with a new political boundary comes to terms with its many contradictions, pulls and pressures. On several occasions since 1947, political developments have challenged Nehru’s idea of an India representing unity based on a syncretic culture of Hindus and Muslims. However, with each challenge, the Indian state has reaffirmed its integrity as a nation, but not always relying on the principles outlined by Nehru.
Desai’s central argument is that India has grown and prospered for more than 60 years after Independence because of its commitment to democracy and policies (both economic and political) that reassert the need for the current constituents to stay together as a nation. That rediscovery of India is what Desai attempts in the book. His belief is that many of India’s problems lie in a flawed understanding of its history and the blame for this should rest with both Indian and British historians. The key to resolving those problems, therefore, is a correct historical analysis of the birth of the nation.
India, Desai concludes, is an outcome of a globalising shock, delivered by the European powers in the 15th century. The arrival of Vasco da Gama in Calicut (now Kozhikode) in 1498 was the beginning of that process. Several European maritime powers were vying with each other to rule the Indian subcontinent. That the British triumphed in this battle was the turning point. It was the British who succeeded in defining the boundaries of India, after wresting control from the Mughals and several other kings in southern and western parts of the subcontinent. An administrative unit called India came into being only in 1870, argues Desai, and, indeed, the nationalist discourse began around that time.
Shades of Nirad C Chaudhuri are evident in this analysis. However, Desai goes beyond merely recording his impressions or opinions. He has relied on historical records to recount the historical events since the 16th century without unduly taxing the reader or losing the charm of an adroit storyteller. The elaborate rendering of the seven-year long trial of Warren Hastings, conducted by Edmund Burke for the manner in which British India’s first viceroy dealt with Indian natives is an eye-opener.
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At the same time, Desai raises several counter-factual questions so that readers do not lose sight of the key turning points in India’s evolution as a nation state. He deals with the questions of whether India could have been a single entity on the lines of the 1935 Government of India Act, whether Lal Bahadur Shastri’s sudden death in 1966 meant for India a shift away from market-friendly economic policies or whether India could have escaped western rule as China did.
The issues that Desai raises through these counter-factual questions are intertwined with the central theme of the book. Shastri’s blueprint for economic policy liberalisation was cast away by Indira Gandhi as, spurned by the US and challenged by her political rivals at home, she began building a new political base for herself. Equally revealing is Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s suggestion in his autobiography that Nehru’s ambivalent approach to the Cabinet Mission plan (that had laid the foundations of an undivided India) allowed Mohammed Ali Jinnah to back out of the deal. That made sure that partition of India would be an inevitable corollary to England deciding to pull out of the country.
Desai makes it obvious that Congress’ reluctance to share power with the Muslim League was one of the factors that spoilt the chances of an undivided India emerging out of the British rule. It is an irony that the same Congress shed its misgivings about forming a coalition government to form the government in 2004. It is also an indication of Congress’ growing maturity and a proof of India’s resilience as a nation that its major political parties today are open to forming alliances, because the idea of India as a large market and vibrant democracy has become more precious and important than ever before.
The book is not flawless. While Desai’s recounting of India’s pre-Independence history is exemplary for its academic rigour and discipline, the analysis of many significant developments post-1947 appears to have been done in a hurry.
THE REDISCOVERY OF INDIA
Meghnad Desai;
Allen Lane/ Penguin;
498+XIV pages; Rs 699
