Aligarh. Today, a crowded city is visible, which has hoisted the flag of its education not only in India but in the world for the last one hundred and fifty years.
The Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College, later renamed Aligarh Muslim University, is still part of the character of the city.
Just ten minutes away from its beautiful campus is Badarbagh, an old area of the city.
The roads of the area now look quite narrow because the land of most of the old, big bungalows has been sold and plotted, on which three-four storey flats have come up.
But the gates of a British-style bungalow built on about 12 acres in the year 1931 are still found open and it is revealed that Professor Irfan Habib lives in it.
‘Do you know what the original name of Aligarh was?’, Irfan Habib asked me in his beautiful garden filled with chrysanthemums, bougainvillea, and roses.
Irfan Habib is 94 years old now. Professor Habib, who was the head of the History Department of Aligarh Muslim University for years, is now a professor Emeritus and makes inquiries about the department daily.
‘Aligarh was named by Marathas’
I also added my question on the question of Aligarh, ‘Faizabad has now become Ayodhya, Allahabad is now known as Prayagraj, Aurangzeb Road in Central Delhi is now left in the books. Was this necessary? Or is this also a period that always comes and goes in history?
Irfan Habib said, “The old name of Aligarh was Kol, not Ramgarh. Later on, the name Kol did not exist because it was the name of some god, who was killed by Krishna.”
He explains, “In the Mughal era, the name was Kol, but the name Aligarh was given by the Marathas around 1780-81 when their prestige increased in Delhi. The cantonments that Scindia had built here were permanent barracks that also had French commanders. They named the area and the fort as Aligarh.”
“Some people say that Aligarh was named after the Scindia commander Najaf Ali Khan, but there is no solid historical evidence for this.”
Professor Habib’s objection to the changing of names of cities and roads in India in the last decade is that ‘there seems to be a communal intention behind it, which is wrong’.
Winter is about to end and amidst the chirping of birds in Professor Habib’s garden, two peacocks are watching us from a banyan tree.
During the British rule in India, this garden has also been witness to the visit of many famous personalities.
Irfan Habib’s father, Mohammad Habib, was a professor of medieval history at Aligarh Muslim University and a member of the Congress Party.
Professor Irfan’s memory is strong even today.
Smiling, he said, “In my childhood, I and my elder brother were playing badminton on the lawn here. Jawaharlal Nehru’s carriage stopped at the gate. He came in alone and said to my father, Habib, make an omelet for me.”
Many years later, remembering an incident in the library of this house, he said, “When Nehru was sitting there, my father said, if we had accepted the Cripps Mission, India would have gotten independence after the Second World War.”
He said, “Nehruji got very angry on this and said, ‘You are a Professor Habib and you will always be a fool’. We were very young, but it felt very strange that someone could call our father a fool!”
Irfan Habib also clearly remembers the days of partition of the country in 1947, because, “The number of students of AMU had reduced from 3,000 to around 800 and most of them had gone to Pakistan. But studies continued.”
He said, “It is important to remember that there was no communal violence in Western Uttar Pradesh and especially in Aligarh. Sardar Patel had also deployed the Kumaon Regiment there for everyone’s safety as a precautionary measure.”
Ashoka and Akbar
Irfan Habib’s father inspired him to read the inscriptions of Emperor Ashoka, due to which he strengthened his hold on Brahmi script and Sanskrit language apart from Persian since childhood.
At present, there is a lot of debate going on in India on languages.
In some states, Urdu is being described as ‘the language of the Mughals and foreign invaders’ and on the other hand, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has put a condition of giving a reward of 10 lakh US dollars to anyone who can read the script from the days of Indus Valley Civilization and prove that it matches the ancient scripts found in his state.
Responding to this, Irfan Habib said, “Our country has been much better than Europe or the Middle East in the sense that hundreds of languages took birth here, linked themselves with each other, and the rulers, whether Hindu or Muslim or British, used these languages in everything from administration to trade.” He says, “How can you make it someone’s property today, all this is beyond my understanding. Historians look at the time not from their political views but from the perspective of that period.”
He further said, “The art of writing was given to us by Ashoka and this is a big thing. I was looking at the UGC syllabus recently, they have forgotten this. Ashoka’s name is mentioned only a little, but you know that the art of writing, which came to India, which is called Lipi, you should mention it in the entire syllabus and not mention it anywhere else.”
Mauryan Empire’s ruler Ashoka is Professor Habib’s favorite, so I asked, “You have done research on Ashoka, who was violent at first and later became a peace ambassador, from his time to Akbar and till now. What is the difference and how much?”
Professor Habib said, “Ashok’s words are more important today. For example, he said that there should be absolutely no intolerance, and other religions should also be taken care of. There is no mention of caste in his entire idea of religion. People often forget this.”
“Because if you look at other things, look at Manusmriti, look at examples from the Gupta period, then this thing is not seen in them. Manusmriti even has some provisions for giving punishment based on caste.”
‘Secularism started here first’
Irfan Habib, who did research on the history of the Mughals at Oxford University, has also written many books on the agricultural system, caste systems, and foreign travelers of that period.
He was first a member of the Communist Party of India and later the Communist Party of India (Marxist). His critics think that ‘Irfan Habib himself and many other historians got their point of view researched in major universities of India since independence, which kept praising the Mughals and Muslim rulers more than necessary.’
It was also necessary to ask Irfan Habib why are some historians of the present era raising questions on Akbar, in whose court, according to historians, a religion like Deen-e-Ilahi was discussed, where orders were issued to protect every religion.
Professor Habib’s answer was, “There was a time when Surendra Nath Banerjee Sahib, who was a big leader of the Congress, went to meet the British ruler Lord Curzon. Curzon himself has written that Banerjee said to him on some matter, “Our country has produced rulers like Ashoka and Akbar and now the British government should produce someone like this. Curzon recorded this and this is about 1903 or 1904.”
On this answer Professor Habib, I immediately asked, “Those who are making the syllabus say that Mughal history was presented in a very grand manner. The form given to Akbar the medieval period or the Mughals was a liberal Marxist narrative. Which was inspired by Britain. Inspired by British historians. Or influenced by Western ideology. And the real history was suppressed due to this view?”
Irfan Habib replied, “If they are such people who were more nationalist than Banerjee, then congratulations to them, but Banerjee was not with the British. Tilak was also not with the British. The country, tolerance, and its achievements mattered to everyone. Even in the world, when someone praises India, then Ashoka and Akbar are mentioned.” He says, “Abul Fazal, Akbar’s minister, used to say that people should not interfere in religion. There was secularism. He even criticized the Prophet and the Caliphs. Any country would be proud that these things happened in our country when no one else in the world was talking about secularism, it started in our country.”
Shivaji’s letter to Aurangzeb
For the last decade, there has been a lot of debate on whether or not to teach ‘Mughals in the curriculum’ in schools and colleges in India.
The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has taken decisions to reduce many things related to Mughal history in school textbooks.
The Mughals, who ruled for about 300 years, are an important part of Indian history.
Critics believe that attempts to reduce or erase such a long period of India’s history are motivated by some ‘political agenda’.
But its supporters claim that this step is a necessary step taken only to “rationalize the syllabus and reduce the burden on students”.
For example, between 2017 and 2022, the history of the Mughals was completely removed from the syllabus in some schools in many states of India, including Maharashtra.
If we talk about Maharashtra, then in most places the syllabus is completely focused on Chhatrapati Shivaji.
In the 17th century, Shivaji defeated the Mughals and laid the foundation of the Maratha Empire. He ruled many parts of India, including Maharashtra.
Those who support the removal of the Mughals from the syllabus allege that Marxist historians like Professor Irfan Habib have written history from their point of view.
In response to this, Irfan Habib said, “Well, now the times have changed. By the way, there was a very famous letter, that Shivaji had written to Aurangzeb. It was written in it that you should follow Akbar’s policy. This has been circulating since Aurangzeb’s time.”
He says, “Secondly, Shivaji himself used to protect all religions, on one side there was a war with Aurangzeb and on the other side Shivaji’s own artillery commander was Ibrahim Ali. The head of his intelligence department was named Haider Ali.”
He further said, “There was Man Singh in Akbar’s court who was a Rajput and the emperor made him the first governor of Kabul. That Hindustan was different, and Afghanistan was also different.”
He said, “How will you write the biography of Maharana Pratap if it does not mention Akbar and Man Singh? Not only this, when European travelers came here, during the time of Aurangzeb, they did not feel that Hindus were being oppressed.”
“Rather, they were surprised that this is a strange country, here there are Hindus, Muslims, Christians and everyone is living well.”
What is the meaning of patriotism?
Since the discussion with Irfan Habib was on the issues of current political and educational debate, the topic of nationalism versus patriotism was bound to come up.
From Hindi films to radio broadcasts, school debates, or magazine cover stories, this issue has gained momentum.
One group is of the opinion that in India, both of these have been ‘intentionally’ merged with each other.
They feel that due to this, till now the majority community has got less space to express its feelings.
On the other hand, critics of this view believe that in today’s times, people are trying to dominate other minority communities in the name of patriotism and nationalism.
Irfan Habib is of the opinion, that “Patriotism does not mean that you keep praising your country. ‘My country may be right or wrong, but I am with it’, this is not patriotism. Real patriotism is that my country should be better.”
He further said, “In Indian history, whether there were Hindu rulers or Muslims, tolerance was there in almost all of them, this was the most special thing in the world.”
He said, “The first book that was written on all the religions of the world was written in Hindustan, in the era of Shah Jahan, it mentioned all the religions – Parsi, Christian, Islam, Hindu, Jain.”
“If you miss this point, then the praise of our own country will be less, and our achievements will also forgotten by us.”
News Credit: BBC News
