History these days is not a distant memory but an essential part of present-day political and social discourse. Just as Nehru is invoked or abused – depending on which side of the political fence you are - Nizam and his rule are invoked and abused during elections in Telangana. No wonder, there has been a flurry of books on Nehru and his legacy as well as renewed interest in everything connected with Hyderabad.
Hyderabad has been a case of lost and found as far as serious history writing is concerned. In the journey of modern Hyderabad, three dates are very important – 1948, 1956 and 2014. Before 1948, Hyderabad was the only multi-lingual, multi-cultural state. There were multi-religious states but none was as diverse linguistically and culturally as Hyderabad. This unique state has undergone metamorphosis in three stages – In 1948, the Hyderabad state as it existed then became a part of India; in 1956, the multi-lingual and multi-cultural Hyderabad lost its identity and became a part of Andhra Pradesh with Hyderabad city as its capital; and in 2014 when Telangana was formed, in effect the Telugu speaking districts of Pre-1948 Hyderabad have been restored.
Unlike the partition of Punjab and Bengal which remains ingrained in the collective memory of Indians, particularly those in the North, the impact of the partition in South India is almost unheard of. So is the story of the 1948 Police Action which was equally painful for the people as it involved similar violence, migration and all the trauma that is normally associated with the partition of 1947. It has remained invisible for many reasons, mainly political. It was only after the Telangana agitation gained steam after 2000 that we started hearing about it again. Remaking History: 1948 Police Action and Literary Cultures in Postcolonial Hyderabad, a new book by poet and academic Afsar Mohammad from the University of Pennsylvania, is an outstanding effort to fill this gap in our understanding of Police Action and its legacy.
Afsar Mohammad has rightly called 1948 the silenced history. The lens he has chosen to uncover the silenced history of 1948 is unique – literature and cultural renaissance. While many scholars have written about the Qutub Shahis and Deccani language nobody has investigated the modern period this way. This is the strength of the book, and most of the actors mentioned - poets, activists, writers, journalists, folk artists, and institutions – deliberated in the book are new to Hyderabadis like me except for popular names like Makhdoom, Kaloji and Dasarathi. The 1948 story – as often told is binary – the Nizam versus Sardar Patel or as a Hindu-Muslim question, but as the book shows it is much nuanced and multi-layered.
Using literary narratives and even folk forms to understand history is important. They serve as a window to history for most of us who are not historians or students of history. For example, Toba Tek Singh, the short story by Saadat Hasan Manto and its various cinematic and theatrical presentations are so powerful in portraying the pain and trauma of the partition, which no history book could do. The Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh is another example. So was the Doordarshan soap opera Buniyaad telecast in the 1980s. In the same way, this book talks about Tarikhu katha or historical fiction – a genre which is very popular now. It talks about how a folk presentation on Police Action was banned because it powerfully conveyed the trauma and story of Police Action. The author also mentions how libraries in rural areas were burnt down in Telangana villages because the Indian army thought they were spreading subversive communist ideas.
The author has used alternative archives to reconstruct the aftermath of Police Action in a fascinating way. He did extensive fieldwork, meeting people in Hyderabad and several districts of Telangana. Through the lens of literature and the written word, the book addresses key questions relating to the Muslim identity in the context of 1948 and its aftermath and connects them to some of the present-day questions of being a Muslim in an atmosphere of majoritarianism.
It is a complex and nuanced story. By blending history, anthropology and literature, Afsar Mohammad has portrayed the cultural and linguistic transformations post-1948 and the decades leading to the formation of Telangana, in particular, the status of Urdu. Based on the analysis of literary practices and texts in the decades after the Police Action, he concludes that ‘the mutual existence of two languages (Urdu and Telugu) and their hybridity is unique and it represents the ethos of the city and Telangana.’ While challenging official histories of the Police Action which excessively focus on Indian nationalism, he has presented 1948 as a turning point that had a lasting consequence on the Muslim identity. The Police Action, according to him, caused ‘unending pain and invisible injury.’ The book is an important addition to the literature on Hyderabad and Telangana.
Afsar Mohammad. Remaking History: 1948 Police Action and the Muslims of Hyderabad. Cambridge University Press; 2024. Pages 306, Price USD 110
[Dr Dinesh C Sharma is a journalist and author based in New Delhi. His upcoming book is titled Beyond Biryani: The Making of A Globalised Hyderabad (Westland Books).]
No comments:
Post a Comment