Riot After Riot -- M J Akbar

There is a point beyond which it is impossible, at least for me, to describe death: you have to leave it as a statistic and be done with it.

Akbar, a veteran journalist, traverses a forbidden landscape of our collective consciousness. An area that we pretend does not exist, but is fertile in that corner of our mind.

Riots -- communal, casteist, ethnic -- seldom raise our eyebrows today. Death is a mere tag-along. Even when massacres, mass murders and virtual ethnic cleansing are given the less-offending epithet of “riot”.

Reading through his pages, it is this escapism of ours that is exposed. And besides the mere documentation of such heart wrenching incidents, I have a feeling that precisely is Akbar’s idea. To strip us of our make-believe world where such heinous crimes happen only in the fringe. “It happens to them, not us”.

Blood curdling incidents of human decimation -- be it in the hinterlands of Bihar or UP, or in the heart of Chandigarh, or in the forgotten suburbs of Meerut, or under the pristine foliage of the Dandakaranya -- have been described, investigated into and the culprits found, by Akbar.

Lost innocence, devastated childhoods, vanishing lifestyles -- these are the recurring leitmotifs of the narration that also uncovers the omnipresent web of lies, politics and rhetoric -- used by individuals and institutions to further their own interests.

Akbar spares none. The supposedly “decent” V P Singh, the “living Durga” Indira Gandhi, the “secular nationalist mask” A B Vajpayee. He tracks the establishment’s instincts to side with the perpetrators of sickening crimes like burning of innocent Muslim children, raping of pregnant Dalit women and public whipping of tribals.

He disturbs the apparent calm that has set in for us in the mainstream society. He disturbs our complacence. In the hope that that somewhere we would be stirred.

High hopes, I must say!

"Riot After Riot" is a mere blip in the radar of our conscience, Mr Akbar.

India's Struggle for Independence

There is this beautiful song in the old movie "Jagruti" (which was generously ripped off to make the modern day classic "Taare Zameen Par") about juvenile reformation and student life. The move ends with Mohammed Rafi crooning:

"Hum Layen Hain Toofan Se Kashti Nikaal Ke.

Is Desh Ko Rakhna Mere Bacchon Sambhaal Ke."

("We" have tugged this boat out of the cyclone. Please keep this country safe my children!)

Blood, sweat, heat, dust, grit and finally glory.

Contradictions, resentment, rebellion, debates, determination and finally freedom.

That our struggle for independence is a fascinating story of perseverance, will and fortitude is well known. But it was also one of differences, clashing opinions, ideologies and personalities is a lesser known fact.

The greatness of the movement was not that it achieved its goal. Its greatness lies in the fact that it did this despite the variety of... hmmm everything... that existed in the country.

The greatness of the men and women who wasted away their lives for this purpose, I feel, is misplaced. It is not because of the hardships they went through towards attaining independence.

It is the how they forged a unified force towards this, enveloping all streams of thoughts, all kinds of personalities -- with mutual respect.

Of course, this book -- a collection of erudite essays by historians like Bipan Chandra, K N Panikkar and Mridula Mukherjee – is not just an eulogy to the people and the movement itself.

Because, besides describing the events, thought processes and ideologies between 1857 and 1947, the book also throws light on the failures of the leadership and people.

The inability of the top-line leadership – Nehru, Gandhi, Patel, Jinnah etc -- to identify and tackle the socioeconomic roots of communalism in the subcontinent and the emphasis on discussion, the compromise among leaders themselves to tackle the issue is a case in point.

Clearing up some of the misconceptions about individuals and the principles, explaining the idea behind some of the controversial steps, the basic theory underlying the whole independence movement in the post-Gandhi era, the book provides a basic theoretical framework for the whole movement.

Forget about interest in history as such, this book is a must read for anyone with even an iota of interest for how we became what we are today.

Indeed, the book cries out: “We have done our job. It’s your turn to safeguard the country.”