ABSTRACT
In this chapter I analyze how the textbook Contemporary India describes the Indian freedom struggle. Particular focus is devoted to how the textbook depicts the various Indian agents taking part in the independence movement and how it conceptualizes the primary driving forces behind this movement. This period of Indian history is highly important in a contemporary context, since it is so closely connected to the foundation of the modern Indian nation state. Many Indians can easily relate to this period, directly or through parents and grandparents, and the freedom struggle also involved several movements and parties that are still important in the political imaginations of many Indians, such as the Indian National Congress, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) 1 and the Muslim League. Of course, these parties and movements have all gone through major changes in the last seven decades. Nonetheless, their roles in the freedom struggle, in which many Indians take a great deal of pride, relate to notions of patriotism and political legitimacy in a contemporary context. 2
I apply the term ‘freedom struggle’ broadly, following its use in the textbook Contemporary India . Here it denotes the period from the middle of the nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth. I analyze only the historical aspects of this textbook, which can be found in its first unit, called ‘India in the Twentieth Century World’. 3 I compare Contemporary India with the previous textbook covering the same period, Social Science Part 1 Modern India: Textbook in History for Class VIII (hereafter Modern India ). This textbook was authored by Arjun Dev and Indira Dev, and I have used the edition published in 2005. It was originally published in 1989. Contemporary India is intended for class IX, whereas Modern India is intended for class VIII, so the textbooks address more or less the same age group. It should be added, though, that Contemporary India is shorter than its former counterpart and does not contain the same level of detail. My analysis follows the chronological structure of the textbook, which starts with a brief account of the nature of colonialism. Then it turns its attention to the formative phase of the freedom struggle, by placing great emphasis on the split between the moderate and radical sections of the Congress movement, as well as on the so-called
cultural and spiritual awakening. In the closing section, the textbook outlines the era of mass involvement, the growth of communalism, and the independence and subsequent partition of the subcontinent.
