End to Chandra reprint sparks global stir

Intellectuals and academicians from across the world have written in to protest the order stopping reprinting of a very popular book on communalism by eminent historian Bipan Chandra.

About 150 leading intellectuals from across India and the world have voiced their protest against NBT’s order.

Besides prominent Indian historians and academicians like Irfan Habib, Romila Thapar and D.N. Jha, many eminent personalities have written in from abroad. They include Ravi Ahuja (Gottingen, Germany), Jane Ohlmeyer (Trinity College, Dublin), Erhan Dogan (Turkey), Peter Pozefsky (Wooster College, US), Alex Tickell (Open University, Walton Hall, UK), Ania Loomba (Univ of Pennsylvania, US), Anna Bryson (Queens University, Belfast), Felix Padel (JNIAS), and Ahona Panda (Chicago University) among others.

Said Prof Aditya Mukherjee, co-author of a book with Chandra and who teaches in JNU, “Leading academicians still continue to write to us on the issue. A lot of them are seeing a pattern of intolerance of alternate views. This is not something that happens in a free democratic society. It is deeply disappointing.”

The reprinting of the book Sampradayikta: Ek Praveshika, the Hindi version of Communalism: A Primer was ordered to stop recently by the National Book Trust (NBT), an autonomous apex body under the human resource development ministry, set up in 1957 to develop reading habits in the country.

Chandra, who passed away on August 30, 2014, was also a former chairperson of the NBT.

Chandra, who was known to have professed left-of-centre nationalist views, argues in the book that “while communalism is very often equated with religious fundamentalism, it actually represents an ideology. To counter it successfully, communal thinking has to be uprooted from people’s minds”.

NBT, however, refuses to see the move as being “ideologically motivated” and has reportedly said that the move is a part of a “routine process”.

NBT is led by its chairperson Baldeo Bhai Sharma, former editor of the Panchajanya, the RSS mouthpiece.

The latest move comes on the heel of RSS attacking Romila Thapar, a renowned historian, on the contents of her latest book On Nationalism where she had written that “nationalism cannot be reduced merely to waving flags and shouting slogans and penalising people for not shouting slogans like Bharat Mata ki jai... Sloganeering or flag waving smacks of a lack of confidence among those making the demand for slogans”.

Chandra’s contribution to modern Indian history especially in the field of nationalism, colonialism and communalism is immense and he has several key books on the subjects to his name including the all-time popular India’s Struggle for Independence, 1857-1947 — a must read for aspiring civil servants preparing for competitive exams.