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Itihas ki Sachchai 1949-1997 Ram Swaroop Bachan Singh Chahal, a former school headmaster, has attempted this complex task. He admits that he is neither a historian nor a great author. However, as a witness to his times, he has tried to record seminal events from this period of great upheaval in the Indian subcontinent. His impressions as an educated layman do not qualify as proper history but his gut reactions have a ring of honesty about them. Bachan Singh was present when Nehru delivered his “tryst with destiny” speech; he was at Ramlila Ground in Delhi when Patel and Maulana Azad delivered their speeches on August 16-17 soon afterwards. He had been in touch with Sir Chhotu Ram and some other elected representatives. All these gave him a unique opportunity to feel the flow of time around himself. With all these qualifications, Bachan Singh’s narrative is an attempt not just to record events but also to understand their reasons and thus interpret them. The reason why the British rulers were keen to divide India and why the leadership of undivided India failed to check their designs are too complex to be understood without a thorough and dispassionate study of the period. In his narrative Nehru and Jinnah come out as ambitious men in a hurry to get the British out, irrespective of the cost to society. The rest of the leaders did not try to check these two for various reasons. Bachan Singh’s thesis is that Partition was avoidable; none of the major Indian communities were keen on it. Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were living peacefully and happily; Partition would not have happened if Indian leaders had forced the British rulers to go for plebiscite in areas which were to be formed into Pakistan. The writer is keen about his work being seen as a primary source for future historians. The narrative is not very rich on facts but an honest attempt to understand the causes behind actions of some of the principal players of that time. The clear message of the book is that recent history is serious business and must get the attention of historians and scholars while the witnesses’ ‘primary sources’ are around. One, however, wishes the book had been edited well.
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Recent history is generally not taught in schools and colleges. However it is events of the recent past from which we need to take lessons. It is important to avoid repeating mistakes and the pitfalls of the process. Recording facts and impressions of an era as sensitive as the days of Partition is a difficult task.