DHNS
 
Bangalore, Aug 5: The challenges faced by modern historians have come in the way of effective documentation of India’s post-Independence history, eminent historian and writer Dr Ramachandra Guha said on Friday. He was delivering the inaugural lecture at the Forum for Free Thought, an interactive platform initiated by the Bangalore University.

He said historians had by and large focused on the country under colonial rule and not given due importance to post-Independence India.

“The main challenge ahead of the historian attempting to cover contemporary history is that he is writing for a reader who already has an opinion about what he’s reading. Further, there is no primary source material on the post-colonial period and in the Indian university scheme of things, history ends on August 15, 1947,” he said.  

Dr Guha also said that historians had not adequately touched upon two important aspects of independent India — the evolution of its electoral process and its caste system.

He pointed out that well-researched biographies on stalwarts in provincial politics like E M S Namboodripad, C N Annadurai, Sheikh Abdullah and Jyoti Basu were also rare.

“None has attempted to come out with a comprehensive biography on Shivaram Karanth, through which the history of Karnataka during his period itself could have been documented,” he said.

Dr Guha, who is at present working on a book on contemporary Indian history, lauded the Indian democracy and said it continued to be the most interesting — though exasperating — country in the world.

Interactive forum

After inaugurating the Forum for Free Thought, Governor T N Chaturvedi said the forum would help bring together the best minds in all fields of learning.

The University proposes to host monthly seminars, workshops and interactions at the forum and create a platform for idea-sharing among experts in all disciplines.

BU Vice-Chancellor H A Ranganath and Registrar R M N Sahai were also present at the inauguration.