Lessons on forgiveness without forgetting

Nonika Singh

He is an unlikely star at a venue-the Zee Jaipur Literature Festival-where both literary heavyweights and actual stars yes from Bollywood too are not exactly in short supply. But Shashi Tharoor the politician writer, Congress MP and former minister whose UN speech went viral and won plaudits from friends and foes alike draws crowds in droves. Be it his rather academic session on the East India Company on Saturday or on Sunday morning audiences are not just eager to listen to the erudite and eloquent Tharoor but stand in the queues to get his latest book An Era of Darkness: The British Empire in India autographed by the author of 15 books. Indeed, the British Raj is at the centre of the discussion. Come to think of it there isn’t much that he says that is not known to all. How the British impoverished India, how they dealt a death knell to our industry and as Nehru put it robbed us of our self-respect have not already been said but also well documented. Fellow panelist Jon Wilson’s book India Conquered: Britain's Raj and the Chaos of Empire too treads the same ground. No wonder the most incisive queries if not exactly a critique of Tharoor’s book comes from him.

Wilson wonders aloud why Tharoor didn’t present a more progressive aspect, why he didn’t focus on what Indians did as response rather than just talk about what British did. Tharoor explains why. The real rationale of his book, the narrative so to say is to point out how British left us a wealthy nation poorer economically as well as in other areas. Apart from the fact that a book can only fit in so many things, the foremost reasons for writing the book only grew after his UN speech that asked the British to pay for their 200 years its colonial rule became such a sensation. His publisher asked him to add to it and make it a book. As he brings to light the systematic dismantling of Indian institutions by the British, their cruel role in famines, Winston Churchill’s disparaging remarks and more he agrees it is necessary to forgive but equally important not to forget.

The book, however, nowhere fits into the so called resurgence of nationalism and is a mere coincidence that it has come about at a time when India turns 70. Shashi the politician of course can’t resist making an aside, a dig at how Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now trying to appropriate what Gandhi stood for. In times when almost everyone is trying to pay lip service to the father of the nation, he also questions the relevance of relay fasts which can’t possibly convey the same moral message that Gandhi’s fast, “inflicting suffering to his own self” did. Between a writer and a politician, he thinks writer is more in control of things while a politician can make a bigger difference. Tharoor, however, seems to be in control both ways. So Prime Minister Modi comes in for a bit of praise too for how he referred to his speech prior to Prime Minister’s visit to UK. And yes Tharoor too bats for Kaalidas, Mahabharata and Ramayana to be taught in schools and colleges, not as part of any sectarian policy but as proud Indians.