Of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal, Nadia district’s Krishnanagar is witnessing a novel marketing campaign through which the Bharatiya Janata Get together (BJP) is projecting Siraj-ud-Daulah, Bengal’s final impartial Nawab, as corrupt and a tormentor of Hindus.
The saffron camp’s narrative challenges Nineteenth and Twentieth-century historians whose analysis proves that conspirators, of whom a number of have been Hindus, helped the East India Firm defeat the 24-year-old Nawab within the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Certainly, it was this battle that marked the start of the British empire that lasted until Independence.
BJP has fielded Amrita Roy, a member of the erstwhile royal household of Krishnanagar that helped the British defeat Siraj-ud-Daulah. BJP has been referring to her as Rajmata (queen mom) in its marketing campaign.
The battle was fought at Nadia district’s Palashi. Siraj-ud-Daulah, who reigned for round 15 months, was assassinated in jail days later on the instruction of Mir Jafar, his common and the chief of the conspirators whom the British positioned on the throne as their tax gathering puppet, say historical past books college and faculty college students have been studying for greater than a century.
In Bengal, many nonetheless seek advice from a treacherous particular person as Mir Jafar, a synonym for Brutus who conspired to assassinate the Roman emperor Julius Caesar.
The BJP’s narrative has triggered sturdy reactions in Bengal, particularly amongst academicians, since March 27 when the saffron camp extensively circulated the audio file of a telephonic dialog Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with Amrita Roy.
Roy, who joined the BJP on March 20 with no expertise in politics, has been pitted towards TMC’s Mahua Moitra who received the Krishnanagar seat in 2019 however was expelled from the Lok Sabha in December final 12 months within the bribe-for-query case that federal businesses are probing.
Whereas speaking to Modi in Hindi over the cellphone, Roy stated: “They (TMC) are focusing on me as a result of I belong to the household of Maharaja Krishnachandra. They’re saying he sided with the British. They’re calling us traitors. However they don’t seem to be saying how a lot he labored for the welfare of the individuals. I’m saying had he not completed that, our Sanatan Dharma would have been destroyed.”
“Siraj-ud-Daulah was corrupt and a tormentor. Maharaj Krishnachandra didn’t do something alone. A number of kings acquired collectively. Many individuals, reminiscent of Jagat Seth (a service provider and cash lender) labored onerous and made it profitable. Had it not occurred, we might not be dwelling as Hindus at the moment. Our language and apparel can be completely different. We’d be dwelling below the rule of another individuals,” Roy informed Modi.
Though Roy was not specific, it was obvious that by “it” and “that” she meant Siraj-ud-Daulah’s defeat through which Krishnachandra Roy performed a job in accordance with historic analysis that TMC is now utilizing in its counter-campaign and mocking the BJP candidate by calling her Mir Jafar.
Krishnachandra Roy, in accordance with researchers, was a propagator of orthodox Hindu non secular practices.
Replying to the BJP candidate, Modi stated: “Amrita Ji, in our childhood we learn loads about Krishnachandra Roy and his growth mannequin for Bengal. These individuals (TMC) are into vote financial institution politics. They are going to make loads of baseless allegations and attempt to malign others by referring to incidents that occurred 300 years in the past. They do that to cover their crimes. In relation to Bhagwan Ram, they ask for proof. It is a signal of their double normal. Don’t listen. Saving Bengal’s heritage is the problem earlier than you.”
The audio was circulated by the BJP’s nationwide media cell together with audio recordsdata of the Prime Minister’s dialog with 5 different candidates from throughout India, and BJP leaders in Bengal are making use of this audio file of their campaigns within the state. The file was additionally made accessible on the occasion’s official WhatsApp group.
The audio has not been independently verified by HT.
In Nadia district, which is situated alongside the Bangladesh border, Hindus comprise 72.15% of the inhabitants, which is among the many highest in Bengal. There are 17 meeting segments of which 14 comprise two Lok Sabha constituencies, Krishnanagar and Ranaghat.
BJP received the Ranaghat seat in 2019, one of many 18 of Bengal’s 42 seats it received that 12 months.
Of the three remaining meeting segments in Nadia, one is a part of the Murshidabad Lok Sabha seat in adjoining Murshidabad district (which has Bengal’s highest Muslim inhabitants of 66.28%) that TMC received in 2019 whereas two falls below North 24 Parganas district’s Bongaon seat that BJP wrested.
What documented historical past says
The East India Firm’s military was headed by Lord Clive who was described by British historian Percival Spear (1901-1982) within the e-book A Historical past of India as a “kingmaker and plunderer.”
“Clive then turned conscious of the plots to dethrone Siraja (as Spear spelt the title). He was moved by ambition, cupidity. Forty million sterling was stated to lie within the treasury of Murshidabad,” Spear wrote.
“In a single day he (Clive) discovered himself, as he thought, the de Bussy of rich Bengal and Bihar who may eliminate their riches to the corporate and his followers.”
Murshidabad was the capital of the Bengal Province (overlaying Bengal, Bihar and Odisha) when the Nawabs dominated. The British later shifted the capital to Calcutta (now referred to as Kolkata) which remained the capital of British India from 1772 to 1911 earlier than Delhi gained the standing.
Ratnabali Chatterjee, a veteran professor of Islamic historical past, stated some historians from India and overseas reached conflicting conclusions on the conspiracy that labored towards Siraj-ud-Daula however none ever doubted his patriotism.
Chatterjee stated: “Clive anticipated that some individuals have been able to betray Siraj-ud-Daulah and Britain supported his plans. He was the one who began draining wealth from India to England. As years handed, Siraj-ud-Daulah was recognised as a nationwide hero. Mir Madan and Mohanlal, his trusted aides, have been Hindus. Sure, there was gossip about Siraj forcefully marrying a Hindu girl however that was by no means substantiated.”
Shouvik Mukhopadhyay, a historical past professor at Calcutta College, stated: “From the works of historians who researched on Siraj-ud-Daulah, it appears some individuals within the 18th century described him as a whimsical particular person and oppressor of each Hindus and Muslims. However this narrative appears to have been created by individuals who have been desperate to please the British for beneficial properties. It was a propaganda with no documentary proof. The evaluation of Nineteenth-century historians and novelists, a lot of whom have been Bengali Hindus, is totally completely different. They depicted him virtually as a freedom fighter.”
Political science professor Udayan Bandopadhyay stated: “It’s a proven fact that many kings and nawabs had ostentatious existence however no one can doubt that Siraj-ud-Daulah died preventing colonial aggression and folks like Mir Jafar, Umichand (a Punjabi service provider), Jagat Seth and Krishnachandra Roy helped the British set up their empire in India. Even Joseph Stalin oppressed individuals in Russia however he finally stood towards Germany in WW2.”
“Those that are glorifying individuals like Krishnachandra in impartial India are insulting 200 years of battle for freedom,” Bandopadhyay added.