Second book of Sai Deepak’s Bharat Trilogy launched

HH Sri Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar Foundation has organised an insightful talk and interaction session on the book ‘India, Bharat and Pakistan: The Constitutional Journey of a Sandwiched Civilisation’  by its author  J. Sai Deepak, who is also a Supreme Court Advocate, at Vijnana Bhavan in Manasagangothri, Mysuru, on Dec. 17 at 5 pm. Here we publish a book review by R. Chandra Prakash. — Ed

• Title: ‘India, Bharat and Pakistan: The Constitutional Journey of a Sandwiched Civilisation’
• Author:  J. Sai Deepak
• Year : 2022
• Pages : 616
• Price : Rs.799
• Publisher : Bloomsbury Publications, New Delhi

By R. Chandra Prakash

Sai Deepak’s second book of the trilogy “India, Bharat and Pakistan: The Constitutional Journey of a Sandwiched Civilisation”  is a detailed account of  the 1905-1924 tumultuous period, during which  ‘a partnership of convenience between European and Middle Eastern colonialities’ inflicted irreparable  damage on Indic Civilisation. This book elaborates on how this  period has also cast a politico-legal dye, with deep fault lines engraved in it, for the post Independence Constitution. He had earlier published “India that is Bharat” which discussed Coloniality, Civilisation and Constitution.

The Determining period: 1905-1924

This period was of great socio-political upheavals in the annals of freedom struggle. To name some of them: Partition of Bengal in 1905, Establishment of Muslim League in 1906, Separate Electorates in 1909, Re-unification of Bengal in 1911, Outbreak of I WW in 1914, the Boer War,  Lucknow Pact of 1916 and the Communal Riots in Malegaon, Malabar, Gulbarga, Kohat, Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in 1919, Launch of Khilafat Movement, Minto-Morley Reforms Report and the Enactment of Government of India Act 1919, Arrival of Gandhi and the Turmoil in the Congress.

It is  Sai Deepak’s view  that  “… unless the period between 1905 and 1924 is made sense of …, the assessment of the combined impact of European and Middle Eastern colonialities … on the framing of the Constitution of 1950 would be truncated and historically uninformed.” 

The author desires that  the  “misplaced religiosity towards the document (that is, Constitution) is replaced with sense of proportion, perspective and purpose.” He, however, does not explain what those ‘religiosities’ are in the Constitution.

 Colonial Clouds over Indic Civilisation

Wahhabi Movement arrived in India as early as in 1800 and continued to have a strong Indian base. The advent of European, more particularly the British, rule not only ended this long period of Islamic political dominance but also created a new socio-political dynamic in Bharat. And the 1857 Mutiny became a turning point in the British colonial control over India.

Congress — Its Colonial Roots and  “Reforms” 

Blueprints

 It is noteworthy that in 1855 Allan Octavian Hume founded the Indian National Union “in full consultations with the Viceroy.” It later became Indian National Congress. Its specific objective was to provide a platform for civic and political dialogue among the ‘educated Indians’ — interpreters between the British and the millions whom the British governed. Freedom from the British rule was never founding objective of the then Indian National Congress.

The author subscribes to the thought that Congress’ colonial roots and policies had deep negative impact on Indic Civilisational Values of Bharat. Congress’ emphasis on western education bereft of Indic Values was in stark contrast with the Islamic Reformers like Syed Ahmed Khan, identified as a British loyalist.

This development  led to the  Hindus moving away from their roots  at a time when the Islamic reformist movements sought  to move closer to the practice of early Islam. Thus, author feels that the Congress helped in further strengthening the roots of Middle Eastern coloniality in Bharat.

Gandhi and Swaraj

With the honorific ‘Mahatma’, Gandhi had acquired an unchallengeable socio-political position and an aura which belittled even the senior stalwarts in Congress. Gandhi’s politico-socio-psychological manipulations within the Congress led to further splintering into sub-groups representing different approaches to country’s future. His deeply entrenched belief in Hindu-Muslim unity, even in the face of stark realities in front of him … played diabolic role in the happenings during 1905-1924.

By hoping to secure Swaraj with the pan-Islamism, “Gandhi had struck a Faustian bargain, the ultimate price being paid with the blood of millions of people and dismemberment of Indic civilisation’s only sacred geography — Bharat.”

Defying Myths

This book defies three myths which have entered into our political discourse.

The first myth: That the Wahhabis supported Sepoy Mutiny in 1857.

Second myth: The British sowed the seeds of the idea of Pakistan with the partition of Bengal in 1905 on religious lines.

Third myth: Jinnah was the architect of Two-Nation Theory.

Author Sai Deepak states that the  Two-Nation Theory is the outcome of inherent separatist tendency of Middle Eastern consciousness, starting from Syed Ahmed Sirhindi under Mughal emperor Akbar to Syed Ahmed Khan of Aligarh.

Dormant Socio-Political Volcanoes

The author provides very detailed accounts of Malegoan, Malabar, Gulbarga and Kohat communal riots during 1905-1924 with authentic multiple source references. This account bares not only the discriminatory approaches by the Congress and more particularly Gandhi, but also the inbuilt socio-political fears within the communities which act as dormant volcanoes.

Era of Re-discover of Bharat

India is celebrating its seventy-fifth year of Independence as the world’s largest successful democracy.  At a time when the credit for this momentous achievement ought to have been attributed to the maturation of its political system, it is largely ascribed to our Constitution, Judiciary and the deliberations in the Constitutional Assembly.

Sai Deepak is of strong opinion that the Bharatiya mind is buried deep under three layers of coloniality — European, Middle Eastern and Nehruvian Marxist / post-colonial. In his trilogy, he is trying to expose the overall historical impact of these coloniality on our Constitution, which has led to the deprival of the Indic Values.

Consequently, a country which fundamentally believes in international brotherhood, harmony and peace — Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — is forced to suffer social disharmony and political chaos. Political developments since 2014 stand testimony to the renaissance of country’s innate beliefs.

This book is certainly a product of in-depth research. Presentation with quotations from multiple sources, detailed notes, references, appendices and index authenticate the statements. However, 600-plus pages are indeed a reader’s challenge, though an enlightening one.