Assignment #14: ‘Even God cannot change the past’ but BJP can & ‘BJP changes the third parent’ for the Departments of English & Media Studies by Prof Dr Sohail Ansari

Note: Even God cannot change the past.

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI, sect. 2, 1139b. Variant translation: Not even the gods can change the past. Same idea in John Milton, Paradise Lost, 9. 926. Pindar, Olympia. 2. 17. Pliny the Elder, Historia Naturalis, 2. 5. 10. Aristotle attributed these words to Agathon, an Athenian tragic poet who lived in the latter half of the fifth century B.C. In his column, "Today and Tomorrow", Walter Lippmann attributed the same idea to George Santayana: "He might meditate on Santayana's saying that not even God can change the past". New York Herald Tribune (June 11, 1951), p. 17. Reported as unverified in Respectfully Quote Even God cannot change the past’

 

This quote is however wrong as God is omnipotent but He has imposed certain restrictions for not doing certain things as He Himself has decided not to change the past. Further this quote is to be understood in a context:

 

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. ... Therefore Agathon rightly says: "Of this alone even God is deprived, the power of making things that are past never to have been".

Media tend to romanticize truth relativism by internalizing the people’s perspective as its primary view of great personalities. Through depiction landmark personalities and events are mythologized and marginalized without evaluation because personalities are seen as relative to differences in perception and consideration; and relative to particular frame of reference. Each point of view, hence, has its own truth; and media are reduced to reflect it.

 

The realization that primary view is itself media-crafted_ if not surely absolutely then surely partially_ can reframe the discussion and elevate the role of media from simply conforming to the constraints of primary view for the perpetuation and reinforcement of a reality to the creator perhaps in a qualified sense.

 

Through depiction landmark personalities and events are recaptured –re-imagined, recreated and contested in various representations.

We are focused on exploring the role of BJP and media in preparing a nation to unlearn by overriding or basically shelving off already internalized perspectives as its primary view in favor of concocted evidences that contradict the same.

 Cultural memory

‘Because memory is not just an individual, private experience but is also part of the collective domain, cultural memory has become a topic in both historiography (Pierre Nora, Richard Terdiman) and cultural studies (e.g., Susan Stewart). These emphasize cultural memory’s process (historiography) and its implications and objects (cultural studies), respectively. Two schools of thought have emerged, one articulates that the present shapes our understanding of the past. The other assumes that the past has an influence on our present behavior’.

Third school of thought has emerged in the form of BJP in India that articulates that the past is to be changed to shape our understanding of the present and to influence on our future behavior.

‘Crucial in understanding cultural memory as a phenomenon is the distinction between memory and history. This distinction was put forward by Pierre Nora, who pinpointed a niche in-between history and memory.

Scholars disagree as to when to locate the moment representation 'took over'. Nora points to the formation of European nation states. For Richard Terdiman, the French revolution is the breaking point: the change of a political system, together with the emergence of industrialization and urbanization, made life more complex than ever before. This not only resulted in an increasing difficulty for people to understand the new society in which they were living, but also, as this break was so radical, people had trouble relating to the past before the revolution. In this situation, people no longer had an implicit understanding of their past. In order to understand the past, it had to be represented through history. As people realized that history was only one version of the past, they became more and more concerned with their own cultural heritage (in French called patrimoine) which helped them shape a collective and national identity. In search for an identity to bind a country or people together, governments have constructed collective memories in the form of commemorations which should bring and keep together minority groups and individuals with conflicting agendas. What becomes clear is that the obsession with memory coincides with the fear of forgetting and the aim for authenticity.

However, more recently questions have arisen whether there ever was a time in which 'pure', non-representational memory existed – as Nora in particular put forward. Scholars like Tony Bennett rightly point out that representation is a crucial precondition for human perception in general: pure, organic and objective memories can never be witnessed as such’

‘Today, India’s ruling Hindu party is besieged with a sectarian outlook. It displays an obsession to turn India into a Hindu nation, side-lining its other cultural and historical diversities. This fixation is so pronounced that it is shockingly beginning to resemble the worldview of the barbaric government.

The ruling establishment is always clashing with history, and there seems to be a serious attempt to present the country’s history and past from a Hindu perspective.

Recently, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, the local BJP government brazenly approved a change in history books to declare Maharana Pratap the winner of the Battle of Haldighati, which was fought against the Mughal emperor Akbar in the 16^th century. History tells us otherwise; that Akbar defeated the King of Mewar, but the BJP allowed this edit in another attempt to pander to the extremist Hindu narrative.

What is interesting to note is that this was not a battle fought between Hindus and Muslims; it was a fight between two rulers for political dominance. These rulers just happened to belong to two different faiths. Akbar’s army was led by a Hindu chieftain while there were many Muslim soldiers who lost their lives fighting for Pratap.

This communalisation of history is being done in a systematic way by the BJP, both in Delhi and in other regions where it is the dominant party. Secular textbooks are being replaced by rabidly sectarian ones that focus mainly on Hindu motifs and tell stories from the Hindu perspective – a dangerous phenomenon in a country where a significant chunk of the population is not Hindu.

A Muslim family was attacked because they were rearing cows and running a dairy business. The Hindu extremists got riled up and attacked them, calling them beef eaters, with no proof whatsoever. Such attacks keep growing in number, and are part of a game plan to isolate Muslims from mainstream society and demonise them in order to turn public sentiment against them more than it already is.

The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar are a victim of a similar narrative. Decades of systematic propaganda against the Rohingya Muslims by the ruling regime created a divide that ultimately left the minority group as the enemy and the outsider.

The present Indian government and all its cultural and ideological wings are aggressively pursuing a policy of creating a false narrative and projecting a biased history so that India’s Islamic symbols and its followers are portrayed as the enemy’.

Exercise:

Examine how rational is the Pro-BJP media in justifying ‘The Clash with History’ as rationality itself determines the extent of success in changing the primary view.

"History is the third parent." This is the opening line of Nadeem Aslam's new novel The Blind Man's Garden. Aslam suggests in his novel that while there is no escaping the "parentage" of history, we can in the course of our lives follow and negotiate with the workings of our historical circumstances. 

Exercise:

Examine false narratives and a biased history produced by the ideological wing of BJP to determine the extent of success in changing the third parent.

 Exercise:

·         BJP intends to change the set of facts; context, setting or the historical circumstance that surround situations or events.

·         Suggest ways for people so that they in the course of their lives follow and negotiate with the workings of the fabricated  historical circumstances

·         Examine systematic propaganda against the Indian Muslims by the BJP for the creation of a divide that will ultimately leave the Muslims of India as the enemy and the outsider.

There never was a time in which 'pure', non-representational memory existed despite representation is a crucial precondition for human perception. Pure, organic and objective memories have never been witnessed nor but history and past from a Hindu perspective.  

Thus, there is a time in which Hindu-representational memory is being created as a crucial precondition for human perception.

The Hindu Revolution in BJP ruled states is the breaking point: the change of a political system, together with the emergence of sociopolitical movement aiming to overthrow the secular Republic of India and replace it with a Hindu State made Muslims disorientated and nonplussed than ever before.

BJP wants people to re-relate to the past after Hindu revolution it has brought. In this situation, people no longer should have had an implicit understanding of their past. In order to understand the past, it has to be represented through history; a history that is created by BJP.

BJP realizes all of sudden that history of India is the wrong version of the past, it became more and more concerned with their own Hindu heritage which helps them shape that is not a collective but Hindu national identity

‘Development is just a slogan for Modi – his real agenda is to alter the ethos of the country and define the nation from the narrow prism of the religious majority.

 The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its patron, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), are more focused on changing the country’s secular culture and edging out India’s Islamic heritage and history than they are on actual governance’.

BJP is not in search for an identity to bind a country or people together as Hindu identity alone is to bind a country and people together; therefore no need for collective memories nor any need to bring and keep together minority groups and individuals with conflicting agendas.

Exercise:

·         Examine media for memories being constructed in the form of commemorations to alter the ethos of India and define the nation from the narrow prism of the religious majority.

·         Examine media for the construction of collective memories from a Hindu perspective  

·         Examine media for arguments that the version of the past is wrong and history is to be recreated