Rethinking 1857 and the Punjab edited by Dr. Navtej Singh
Punjabi University, Patiala. Pages: xxiv+267. Price: Rs. 280/-.
Revisiting historical events is part of the academic discourse so essential for the nation-building process – provided such explications stick to historiography’s basic tenets, viz., objectivity and truth. Although, in the name of national interest, political expediencies have caused rewriting of histories the world over any digression from the basic principles has done more harm than good. Nonetheless, debates on accepted history are essential in order to validate or redefine significant events.
When, in 1957, the so called Sepoy Mutiny was officially anointed as India’s First War of Independence the powers that be failed to anticipate the division of the nascent polity into patriotic and ant-national slots. Sikhs, nay Punjabis, who were the last to fall to the inexorably expanding British power, after the Second Anglo-Sikh War in 1849, are justifiably incensed at finding themselves in the unpatriotic slot just because they were either on the wrong side or neutral in 1857 when pan-Indianism was not in vogue. The various essays in this volume interrogate this aspect. Nonetheless, certain questions need to be answered, viz., when did the India-is-one-nation sentiment take birth? Need we always look at yesterday through today’s prism? There cannot be a simple explanation, but there is certainly a need for objectivity based consensus among historians.
THE TRIBUNE
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