Witness to Contemporary History: Essays on Pakistan, Bangladesh and Secularism

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Saradindu Mukherji (Ph.D. Delhi) taught Modern History at Hansraj College, University of Delhi and for sometime, at its P.G. centres at North and South Campus. Formerly, a Post-Doctoral Research Scholar at University of London, a Charles Wallace Visiting Fellow at the Department of Politics, Centre for Indian Studies, University of Hull, and a former Member of the ICSSR and the ICHR. He is Member-in-Charge of ICHR special project on "Politics and Demography: Punjab (Lahore) and Bengal (Khulna)", launched in 2016, and completed in 2019. His major publications are Peasants' Politics and the British Government in Bihar 1930-1940; Subjects, Citizens and Refugees, Tragedy in the Chittagong Hill Tracts 1947-1998: Hindus Betrayed; Religious Cleansing in Bangladesh; The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019: Some Reflections and its Bengali version. Has co-edited Indian National Army and written on "Colonial Situation and Our 'Renaissance' Figures: Their ideas on the need of a democratic polity for India" in India: The Mother of Democracy (ICHR), LAHORE: From Crest to Calamity: A Study on the Interplay of Religious Demography and Politics, 1881-2011 was edited by him (2024) BJP's first-ever website (1998) carried his piece on its Foreign Policy, and was part of a team which produced one of the first reports on the archaeological significance of the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple complex at Ayodhya.

These articles were written for both the print and the digital media between 1991 and 2023, covering a wide range of themes. Broadly speaking, issues dealt here were also conveyed through my talks at various forums in India and abroad - both in mainstream academic and learned non-academic circles, meet-ings of Indian diaspora, in both friendly and hostile environment at Berlin, Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Cambridge, Canberra, Chicago, Colombo, Dhaka, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Hull, London, Manchester, Munich, Nottingham, New York, New Jersey, Oxford, Philadelphia, Rugby, Singapore, Tokyo, Villanova, Warsaw, Washington, Swansea and various places. The condition of the persecuted religious minorities in Paki-stan and Bangladesh, and the urgency of some meaningful reme-dial measures by the international community, especially by the Government of India was high on my priority. India's political and social background that had always influenced government think-ing on such matters provided the necessary backdrop. Hence, it was a matter of fulfilment for many of us, writing/campaigning on the tragic plight of Hindus in the neighbouring Islamic countries, and most certainly for thousands, perhaps mil-lions of such refugees waiting for securing Indian citizenship, when the Indian Parliament enacted the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2019. We all know the stellar role played by the NDA government and particularly the efforts of Prime Minister, Narendra Damodardas Modi and the Home Minister Amitbhai Anilchandra Shah in this path-breaking legislation.¹ The plight of the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Jain, Christian, and Zoroastrian minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh, and India's relations with those countries (Chapters 1 and 2) accounts for thirty (30) articles out of a total of ninety three (93). Many of these articles obviously also dealt with the nature of the state-system of these two countries, especially, their religious and cul-tural policies. The piece on BJP's Foreign Policy when the former's first-ever website was launched in 1998 was based on the experience I had gathered in writing these articles. After all, a nation's external relations to a large extent are also conditioned by the local milieu. In Chapter 3, "Secular" Politics in Contemporary India. Some Issues in Domestic Scenario, there are sixteen (16) articles on the theory and practice of "secularism" in India, 1947 onwards, well reflected in its political system/culture, and in the conduct of its external relations. In these articles, I have repeatedly brought up various fault lines in contemporary India's body politic, includ-ing the necessity of scrapping Article 370, the plight of the Hindu refugees from our own Kashmir valley and the imperative neces-sity of sending them back and their proper rehabilitation. Though Article 370 was made void by the BJP led NDA Government, but no solution has been found for the Hindu refugees from the Kashmir valley. I had also raised the issue of Waqf. The latest legislative measures appear to have taken care of many anoma-lies in the system; may be more is expected. The next chapter - "Another Facet: "Secular" Distortions in India's Foreign Policy: Price We Pay", logically complementary to the previous chapter, covers through the nineteen articles (19) some of the major policy decisions in the realm of India's exter-nal relations and its implementation - its success and failure. This section has also taken up some important regional satraps and their views regarding India's external relations. One can clearly notice how often it was shaped by their narrow understanding of national issues that obfuscates the dividing line between domestic and foreign policy domains.

The author-renowned historian has covered a period of more than 30 years starting with 1990 to date-He has lectured/researched in the libraries of most countries of the world and all the articles included here have been published earlier also lectured on. The author has been teaching/researching history for decades and his writing style is lucid and incisive. He humorously mentioned about starting his writing career as "Letters to Editor" writer and how he was encouraged by his uncle to write for newspapers. To quote: "Regarding my articles in the print media and later on the digital media that are included here, the starting point was writing letters to the Editor, and it was quite a thrilling experience to begin with! But with more and more letters being rejected, and the few which got published were so crudely edited, that one came to realize the uselessness of writing letters to the Editor! It was quite frustrating to say the least. I do not suggest that writing letters to editor is not useful. It must remain an important medium expression of politically conscious intelligentsia. It was around in 1990-91, that my uncle Abhas Kumar Chatterjee, then a serving IAS Officer in Bihar advised me to write for newspapers." At that time Pioneer was launched in Delhi and he began to write in that. His stand on "vilification" of Ram Mohan Roy and opposition to Farakka Barrage Agreement reveals his independent stand not carried by the clamour of the day. His articles on the plight of Hindus in Pakistan and BD are poignant and reveal his passion for causes of oppressed minorities. It would be worthwhile for youngsters to buy and read this volume to know the true history of the tumultuous days India has passed through. He is a sober but stern historian not carried away by the currents of contemporary "fellow travellers" or govt. supporters. Hope more power to his pen and larger body benefit out of his work.