Chhattisgarh voted BJP out in 2018 and ● First, elections were

held in combination won general election for of time.

The
get Times Ofgave
Gujarat India
BJP a-fright
Kolkata, 10/25/2019
in 2017 state
Cropped page
Haryana and Maharashtra with Congress the party earlier this year, when the Page: 18
So, there’s likely a message from the
and
polls but all states voted overwhelmingly in near-disarray, BJP’s poll machinery economy was already in the slowdown economy to BJP from Haryana and
age for the party in 2019 national polls. in top gear and its two big stars and stra- mode. This formula was buttressed Maharashtra. The party should listen.
ded

‘Lot of people saw East India Company as lesser evil; North

Calcutta gentry became part of the Company system’
In his just published The Anarchy,
historian and writer William Dalrymple
tries to explain how a London-based
corporation replaced the Mughal Empire
ing in just 47 years, from 1756 to 1803.
wdy Manimugdha S Sharma gets him to
ers elaborate on some key moments:
ia”
art ■ Why have depredations carried
out by the Company been
een forgotten and only those of the
ral British Raj remembered?
ent It was known in the 18th century
ne- that this was a trading company
run by a bunch of London merchants,
hen taking help from the British govern-
ment infrequently. It’s important to
she understand that this was a case of massive
on corporate incompetence, corruption,
list exploitation, asset stripping, plundering
ing and looting. It doesn’t absolve anyone
ich but makes it more sinister and more
ets relevant to our own times. What really
surprised me in a positive manner
ons while researching this period was the
as amount of resistance to the Company
his and its plunder seen in the British press
ace of the time, especially after the famine
e– of 1770. Horace Walpole wrote in his
in diary that we have outdone the Spanish
and the Portuguese, for they at least
had the excuse of faith, we have done it
mir entirely for profit.
ons ■ Before the Battle of Plassey, Bengal
hat was the richest Mughal province.
its Then, it had the Great Bengal Famine
y– of 1770. How did it happen?
Bengal, despite the decline of the
ing Mughals in the 1700s, remained largely
hip immune to the anarchy. There were
on.
oft dilbert
ing
or
ads
s or
periods of very severe Maratha
incursions in the 1740s but those were
very quickly seen off by Nawab Alivardi
Khan. The period also saw the growth of
the textile industry in Bengal, which
turned Bengal into the workshop of the
world. What Manchester would be in the
19th century, Bengal was in the 18th
century. This happened initially with
European assistance as the various
European trading companies
became the instruments to diffuse
Mughal textiles around Europe
and as far as Mexico where there
was a massive de-industrialisation due
to the import of Indian textiles.
The famine is a controversial matter.
Rajat Datta of JNU has done a village by
village analysis of it and is tending
towards the view that it wasn’t largely
the responsibility of the East India
Company. It was primarily due to
ecological changes. I have argued
that whether or not the Company was
responsible for it, its incompetent
response to the famine made it much
more deadly, and its tax collection just
added to the misery of the people.
■ When it comes to Siraj ud-
Daula, often there’s a traitor vs
patriot narrative. What’s your
reading?
India’s nationalist historians
have wanted him to be a hero,
and he did resist the Company.
But all contemporary accounts,
not just the British, portray
him as sort of an Uday Hussein
[Saddam Hussein’s eldest son]
figure. Ghulam Hussain Khan,
who was deeply critical of the British,
wrote probably the rudest account of
Siraj, portraying him as a serial bisexual
rapist who used to sink pleasure boats in
the Ganges just to watch people drown.
One wonders why Bengali historians
have absolved him of all this.
We miss out the key figure of Jagat
Seth. Seth pays an amount equivalent to
one year’s revenue of
Bengal to the Company
to effect a regime
change. Clearly, a lot of people saw the
Company as the lesser evil. It has failed
to reach popular consciousness that the
Marwaris, the Hindu bankers, and later
the Bhadraloks chose to support the
Company. Later on,
the Permanent
Settlement broke
up the big Mughal
estates and par-
celled them out to
people who could
afford them. So
you had the rise of the North Calcutta
gentry – families like Maliks, Debs and
Tagores who became land owners. They
all became part of the Company system.
The nationalist narrative misses all this.
■ What are your thoughts about
the view the Englishman wasn’t the
problem, the Muslim ruler was?
That response is not completely
ahistorical. The Seths,
Maliks, Debs and Tagores
made a choice. The British
realised this and in the 19th century did
their best to write histories to stress
emphatically that the natives were saved
from all that by the British.
■ What do you think was the Com-
pany’s or the larger British attitude
towards Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan?
It was very positive for Haidar Ali
initially. The French and British
admired Haidar Ali and Tipu, especially
the younger Tipu, the victor at Polilur
(1780). The British were taken aback by
this disciplined Indian army that got the
better of them and they had no clue
that there was such an army. So Hector
Munro, this famous British general and
the victor of Buxar, fled and was hooted
on the streets of Madras.
■ You’ve described the loot, rape
and plunder of Srirangapattanam
by Company forces after the defeat
of Tipu.
This was a brutal period. It was no
different from what the Marathas were
doing in Bengal. It’s the reason why I call
my book The Anarchy. It was an extremely
violent period and I am glad I wasn’t a
peasant living through this.
Sacredspace
Gold & Glitter
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who
wander are lost.
The old that is strong
does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached
by the frost.
JRR Tolkien

hips
dX
and
tato
Why We Celebrate Dhanteras And Diwali
buy Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ledge over ignorance. For an oil lamp to many facets and stages to it and it is Diwali means to be in the present. So
d X. burn, the wick has to be partially immer- important that you throw light on each drop past regrets and future worries;

A
use t this time of the year people
t in around the world are getting
ready to celebrate Diwali, the
X by festival of lights, one of the biggest
nd Y festivals of the East. And today is called
‘Dhanteras’ – it means the ‘day of we-
ics. alth’. It means feeling a sense of abun-
t of dance, and whatever is needed will come!
the Remember all the blessings you have
received in life and feel grateful for it.
has The tradition is to put all the wealth
s to you have earned in front of you and feel
are the abundance. When you feel lack, the
blic lack grows but when you put your atten-
ity. tion on abundance, then abundance
mer grows. In the Arthashastra, Chanakya
city says, ‘Dharmasya Moolam Arthah’
which means, ‘prosperity is the root of
righteousness’.
Diwali symbolises the victory of good
over evil, light over darkness and know-
sed in the oil. If the wick is completely
drowned in oil, it cannot bring light. Life
is like the wick of the lamp, you have to be
in the world and yet remain untouched by
it. If you are drowned in the materialism
of the world, you cannot bring joy
and knowledge in your life. By
being in the world, yet not
drowning in the worldly
aspect of it, we can be the
light of joy and knowledge.
Diwali is the commemo-
ration of the light of wis-
dom in our lives. Lamps are
lit on this day not just to
decorate homes, but also to communica-
te this profound truth of life. Light the
lamp of wisdom and love in every heart
and bring a radiant smile on every face.
Diwali is also called Deepavali, which
literally means rows of lights. Life has
one of them, for life to be fully expres-
sed. The rows of lights remind you that
every aspect of life needs your attention
and the light of knowledge.
Every human being has some good
qualities. And every lamp that you
light is symbolic of this. Some
people have forbearance, some
have love, strength and gene-
rosity, while others have the
ability to unite people. The
latent values in you are like a
lamp. Don’t be satisfied with
lighting just one lamp; light a
thousand! You need to light
many lights to dispel the darkness of
ignorance. By lighting the lamp of
wisdom in yourself and acquiring
knowledge, you awaken all facets of
your being. When they are lit and awa-
kened, it is Diwali.
just live in the moment. It is a time to
forget the bickering and negativities
that have happened through the year. It
is a time when you throw light on the
wisdom you have gained and welcome a
new beginning. When true wisdom
dawns, it gives rise to celebration.
Celebration is the nature of spirit.
Ancient sages brought sacredness in
every celebration, so that you don’t lose
focus in the hustle-bustle of activity.
Observing rituals and religious prac-
tices (puja) is simply showing one’s
gratitude to the Divine. This brings
depth to the celebration.
For the one who does not have spiri-
tual knowledge, Diwali comes only once
a year, but for the wise, Dhanteras and
Diwali is every moment and every day.
Follow Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at spea-
kingtree.in