In the current political heat on Mughal emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, spotlight is missing on his elder brother Dara Shikoh who had translated 51 Upanishads into Persian and its Latin translation first introduced the Upanishads to Goethe, Schiller, Schopenhauer, and Southey.
Author-Journalist Piyush Srivastava’s new book, ‘From Gandhi to New Gandhi’ [ BluOne Ink] reads like an Odyssey through ghosts and resurrections. The 305-page book contains six chapters: Mahatma Gandhi, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Jawaharlal Nehru, Nathuram Godse, Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi. Piyush’s writings are a candid account portraying both negative as well as positive characteristics of these public figures.
For instance, the author sharply criticizes Mahatma Gandhi for ignoring public views and his inability to protect the Congress from the criminals. He quotes Gandhi writing in Young India on 7 May 1931, “The rise of goondaism (in the Congress) is a warning for all of us to be alert and look for its remedies.” This still exists in every political party.
As a commentator, Piyush says now he fears that very soon Gandhism would be dragged out of India the way the Brahmanical forces did to Buddhism 2500 years ago or maybe Gandhi would exist in India as an incarnation of Vishnu, the way Buddha exists in the land of his birth for some. In his assessment, BJP and other right-wing forces would assimilate Gandhi in their ideology because the Congress has dumped him.
The book claims that while the killers of Gandhi were openly declaring their intentions, his disciple, Jawaharlal Nehru’s government ignored all intelligence and police inputs, making the job of the killers easy. The author also claims on the basis of court proceedings in Gandhi’s assassination case, it appeared as if the Nehru government was eager to close the case and release V D Savarkar as soon as possible. He has given several references and also quoted his conversation with historian Irfan Habib to substantiate this claim.
The book describes Nehru, a rumourmonger, who used to take interest in the personal lives of his friends and quoted Harivanshrai Bachchan [megastar Amitabh Bachchan’s illustrious father] as saying that the first Prime minister of independent India loved receiving awards and honours.
Contrary to what many authors’ claim that Govind Ballabh Pant, Uttar Pradesh chief minister, had allowed the Hindu Mahasabha to make Ayodhya’s Ramjanambhoomi temple a political issue, Piyush asserts that Pant had Nehru’s backing, who, according to the author, was eager to be accepted as a Brahmin. “His detractors used to call Nehru a Mughal or Muslim sympathizer because his ancestors were employed by the Mughal Emperor, Farrukhsiyar,” writes Piyush adding, “Nehru government had banned the RSS after Gandhi’s assassination not because it thought it was involved in the crime but because he wanted the RSS to merge with the Congress and put Sardar Patel, his home minister on job to do arm-twisting and force them to be in the Congress.”
The book states that V D Savarkar was obsessed with his body and was very friendly with the Andaman jail officials, who used to torture and even kill other prisoners. He has quoted Savarkar as writing in his letters that he used to get news from across the country in prison from the officials posted there. Piyush says Savarkar never stood with those whom he indoctrinated and prompted to kill the British officers.
The only time he stood by was with Madan Lal Dhingra, who had killed Curzon Wyllie, a British officer in London. Savarkar was present there and had openly protested against a condolence meeting which was presided by Aga Khan III. But that was the only time he stood with his friends. The author has quoted PL Inamdar, the counsel of Dattatreya Parchure, who was an accused in Gandhi assassination case and eventually acquitted. Parchure had said that Nathuram Godse’s confessional statement was written by Jamnadas Mehta, a follower of Savarkar. The author suggests that Savarkar wanted the end of the case as soon as possible and encouraged Nathuram Godse to accept the crime. (Page 211-212)
The book says there is no spark in Rahul Gandhi to lead the country but also mentions Queen Victoria writing to her daughter Alice that Bertie (later Edward VII) “shows more and more how totally, totally unfit he is forever becoming king.”
While mentioning Sonia Gandhi, who wants to see her son grow in politics, the author writes, “A mother once wished that her incapable son was never a king, yet he ruled over the United Kingdom and India for nine years (1901-1910). Similarly, another mother handed her son the top post of her party, but he failed to manage it for even two years.”
“It we consider the country as a democracy, we cannot rule out the possibility of Rahul becoming prime minister in the future,” says the author. (Page 285)
The author points out that prime minister Modi gave Padma Vibhushan to Aga Khan IV in 2015 even though Aga Khan III has himself written in his autobiography that he was a major force behind the creation of Pakistan. The book describes prime minister Modi as a friend of rich Muslims.
Controversial and provocative, Piyush’s work is well researched even though some of the remarks and conclusions remain subjective. He has written in a language that the common man can understand easily and correlate themselves with the history of India from the time of Bal Gangadhar Tilak till date.