On the 113th birth anniversary of revolutionary Bhagat Singh

[jamahir]

Do you know Nizam of Hyderabad and many Muslim Nawabs had very good relations with the British?

The Muslim Nizam of Hyderabad of the time in 1799 conspired with the British against the Muslim Tipu Sultan and got him killed. Would you say Tipu too was a terrorist ?

And after Tipu, to the extent of my knowledge, either the Muslim rulers were friendly with the British or detached from the affairs of the country. I quote the plot of the film Shatranj Ke Khiladi :

The film shows in parallel the historical drama of the Indian kingdom Awadh (whose capital is Lucknow) and its Muslim Nawab Wajid Ali Shah who is overthrown by the British, alongside the story of two noblemen who are obsessed with shatranj, an ancient form of chess.

Amjad Khan portrays the Nawab as an extravagant but sympathetic figure. He is an artist and poet, no longer in command of events and unable to effectively oppose the British demand for his throne. Parallel to this wider drama is the personal (and sometimes humorous) tale of two rich noblemen of this kingdom, Mirza Sajjad Ali and Mir Roshan Ali. Inseparable friends, the two nobles became passionately obsessed with the game of shatranj (chess), neglecting his (Mirza Sajjid Ali) wife and failing to act against the real-life seizure of their kingdom by the East India Company. Instead, the two nobles abandon their families and responsibilities, fleeing from Lucknow to play chess in village exile untroubled by greater events. Ray's basic theme in the film is the message that the detachment of India's ruling classes assisted a small number of British officials and soldiers to take over Awadh without opposition.

The role of Captain Weston, so British in his ways, but in love with Urdu poetry, is also worth noting.

In the last scene, after which Mir shoots at Mirza and complains out loud "I won't have a partner to play chess with", Mirza responds to him "but you have one in front of you!" (thus making him understand that he forgives him). He finally concludes that "after nightfall, we will go back home. We both need darkness to hide our faces."

Jinnah had excellent relations with the British

What about the criminal Savarkar ? After all he and his cohorts were the ones to lay the basis for the Two Nation Theory. I quote this article about Shashi Tharoor :

Speaking at the session 'Shashi on Shashi' with Micheal Dwyer on Day 2 of the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF), Mr Tharoor claimed that the Hindutva movement started by Vinayak Damodar Savarkar categorically rejected the Constitution.

He said that for Savarkar, a Hindu was one for whom India was his fatherland and holy land. Muslims and Christians were not considered in this.

"Savarkar, Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar and Deen Dyal Upadhay rejected the constitution and in fact agreed with the Muslims that religion should determine nationhood. In the historical sense, the first advocate of the two-nation theory was actually Savarkar, who as the head of the Hindu Mahasabha called upon India to recognise Hindus and Muslims as part of two separate nations three years before the Pakistan Muslim League passed the Pakistan Resolution in Lahore in 1940," he said.

HalfMoon, I doubt you are a Muslim, but if you are I am hoping against hope that you are not an admirer of Abu Faisal.

I don't like hero-worshipping though he was a good human being but I won't take any of his methods or ideas as absolutes.

Firstly, I will quote from the OP :

The image of him as a trigger-happy young man was deliberately publicised by the colonial government, which many of us internalised and continue to romanticise.

Secondly, he was opposing a colonial government... a different time. At present the progressives have to oppose fellow Indians which will take different methods for the progressives to achieve power.

 

[T90TankGuy]

Are you really from Hyderabad ?

No he is not.

 

[Naofumi]

Secondly, he was opposing a colonial government... a different time. At present the progressives have to oppose fellow Indians which will take different methods for the progressives to achieve power.

I object to use progressive as a label as it is too vague to be understood unambiguously.

 

[jamahir]

I object to use progressive as a label as it is too vague to be understood unambiguously.

What word would you use to describe actively political sensible people like Kanhaiya, Shehla, the late Gauri Lankesh and Prof. GN Saibaba, and simultaneously those sensible people who are not active at present ?