UK long suffered from complete amnesia about its colonial past: Historian Sam Dalrymple

New Delhi, Aug 2 (PTI) The United Kingdom long suffered from "complete amnesia" about its colonial past, says author Sam Dalrymple, but things are "getting better" with the 1947 Partition and India’s independence finally finding space in the school curriculum.

Dalrymple, historian and son of writer William Dalrymple, is out with his maiden book, "Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the making of Modern Asia". He argues that how the multiple partitions that took place in the Raj are remembered, or forgotten, varies sharply from country to country.

For instance, while Bangladesh foregrounds the 1971 Liberation War in its national narrative, India focuses predominantly on the 1947 Partition with Pakistan in the west -- often overlooking the equally disruptive upheavals in the southern regions, such as the migration from the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, which witnessed “three times” more migration to Pakistan.

And things were no better in Britain either.

"The UK used to have, in my childhood, complete amnesia about the Empire, etc. And it's only recently that they introduced courses for GCSE students, requiring them to learn about the independence movement in India, etc. Until recently, there was no mention of Partition in the British curriculum. Now there is — and that’s an amazing change...

"It began in 2018, when a lobby emerged to try and get it included in the curriculum. Now it's available as an optional module. So it’s not for everyone — but I think most people will come across it at some point," said the 28-year-old Delhi-raised Scottish historian.

Dalrymple’s book traces how five key partitions turned "Britain’s Indian Empire into 12 nation-states" over four decades -- beginning with the separation of Burma and Aden in 1937, followed by the Persian Gulf states in 1947, the partition of India and Pakistan the same year, the division of princely states, and finally, the birth of Bangladesh in 1971.

On the topic of the separation of the Arabian Peninsula, including present-day Gulf states like Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and Kuwait, from British India, which is largely forgotten in the country’s national narrative, the author explains that this erasure is rooted in the way Indian nationalism took shape -- drawing on the idea of “Bharat Varsh”, a civilisational concept from the Mahabharata dating back 2,500 years.

"But British India was not formed on the basis of 'Bharat Varsh'. It was a colonial construct based on conquest, and that structure included territories like Burma and Arabia, which didn’t fit into the national imagination," he added.

Having dug through a trove of declassified files, memoirs, interviews, and private archives -- including those of Feroz Khan Noon, Pakistan’s last democratically elected prime minister before its first military coup -- Dalrymple explored the lives of key historical figures across South Asia for his book.

But when asked who he most enjoyed reading about, pat comes his reply: Sarojini Naidu, who he claims is arguably "the most important woman in the independence movement".

“She sounds like she would be all of our best friends if she were alive today. Like, she’s this kind of society aunty with the most incisive comments that are absolutely brutal to everyone — but she’s also just the biggest ball of fun at the same time. So many of these characters come across as very dry politicians or bureaucrats, etc., but Sarojini Naidu feels like someone I’d want at my dinner table.

"I wasn’t expecting to giggle as much as I did while reading her letters — to her daughter, or to Nehru, Jinnah, or Gandhi. She’s brilliant," he explained.

Now, as memories of undivided India fade with each passing generation, Dalrymple warns that the world is steadily forgetting how the borders of South Asia were drawn.

He cites, for instance, the US President Donald Trump's claim that India and Pakistan had "been fighting for thousands of years,” contrasting it with the lived experiences of elders who remember a time before they were pitted as enemies.

Dalrymple advocates for a critical examination of nationalism -- while acknowledging how it is "infinitely" better than imperialism -- arguing that it too has caused “a huge amount of bloodshed and division” and deserves to be analysed with the same candour.

"As we disappear from a globalised age and go back into an era of nationalisms, I think South Asia's multiple partitions are a dire warning of what's to come," he concludes.

"Shattered Lands", published by HarperCollins India and priced at Rs 799, is available for purchase across online and offline stores. PTI MG MAH MAH