Recent events around the world have brought into sharp focus our shared heritage and history and how they shape our present, as individuals and as a community or society. Monuments and statues whose place in the history was without a question, have now fallen under scrutiny for what they represent.
Against the backdrop of the Black Lives Matter protests and emergence of debates around legacies and heritage, it surfaced that the UK Government has rejected a review urging a greater inclusion of Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) history in the national school curriculum.
On Saturday 8 August, ahead of India’s 74th Independence Day, the Indian Journalists’ Association partnered with the Bengal Heritage Foundation’s new Think Tank series along with British Council and explored several elements around the theme of colonialism and its legacy in a discussion titled, ‘Reflections and relevance of our shared history in the modern era'.
Panellists included: Shrabani Basu, author, journalist and historian, Lady Kishwar Desai, author and columnist, Zehra Zaidi, campaigner ‘We Too Built Britain’ and Jonathan Kennedy, Director Arts for British Council India. Moderator was Malavika Banerjee, the Director of Kolkata Literary Meet.
Colonialism and legacy
Zehra Zaidi, speaking at the webinar that has had 14.2K views, as we go to press, said, “A very practical and do-able suggestion would be to incorporate elements that reflect different aspects of the British Empire within the coursework.
“What the Black Lives Matter movement has highlighted is that leaders and heroes can be flawed and therefore there is an urgent need to focus on our inclusive history and unite around common themes.
She also added, “Representation of BAME culture in the West is more than tokenism. It is more than individual representation. They are part of vision for Global Britain.”
Shrabani Basu, author of historical accounts such as ‘Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan’ and ‘Victoria and Abdul’ said how literature helped societies. Speaking about what inspired her to write ‘Victoria and Abdul’, she said, “I was curious how a young man northern India came to feature in a painting representing the heart of Britain’s royal court. I recognised there was so much in common when reviewing the well-preserved journals in Pakistan and redacted accounts from the royal staff. The only way we can go forward is by celebrating our shared history and heritage, by letting people of the former colonies know that they played a role in this history and that they have an important stake in it. We need to tell these forgotten stories.” She also spoke about how food and art and literature connect communities and emphasised that colonial history has to be a part of UK’s school curriculum
Lady Kishwar Desai, spoke about her early struggles in establishing the only museum in the world dedicated to Partition of India. She said, “It is a fallacy to suggest the new generation is not interested in history. We were pleasantly surprised when 1500 people attended the launch of the museum in a hall meant only for 300. Youngsters recalled what their grandparents went through during Partition. From humble beginnings of a couple of items (purse held by my grandmother from her travels in the time of partition) it has now grown to 14 galleries and won 6 awards.”
Jonathan Kennedy speaking about how engagement is changing between Britain and India in modern times added, “We have to shift the lens in interpreting culture.”
Referring to a time when he was intensively involved in theatre productions, he mentioned the obstacles he had to overcome to represent the history of Indian sailors working for East India Company in London in an art form. “There is a need to shift the narrative,” he said. “History was always written by those in ‘power’. As a famous African quote goes – ‘The stories of the hunt would be different if the lions were to tell them’.”
Dwarkanath Tagore and tribute
The web session started by presentation BHF members paying tribute to Dwarakanath Tagore on his 174th death anniversary, celebrated on 1st August at the Kensal Green cemetery, consecutively commemorated for the 3rd year by BHF. This tribute session started with a soulful song presented by a member of BHF, followed by a talk by Abhiroop Sengupta, third generation entrepreneur based in Kolkata, who mentioned how the story of Dwarakanath Tagore inspired him to continue expanding on the business empire he inherited.
Sourav Niyogi, President of BHF and Amit Guha, Member of Management Committee – were seen speaking in front of Brown’s Hotel, where Dwarakanath Tagore breathed his last (at the time, St. George’s Hospital).
Sourav Niyogi, President of Bengal Heritage Foundation said, “BHF has played a pivotal role in renovating the monument of Dwarakanath Tagore in Kensal Green. His pioneering work as an entrepreneur – first Indian having equal partnership with British and that too in early 19th century is so relevant in the post Brexit world of Indo-British relationships. As BHF, we have focussed on the promotion of both tangible and intangible shared heritage over the years and the webinar was part of our continued effort to bring heritage into mainstream discussions.”
9-year-old Vaidehi Guha a member of BHF generation next said, "Commemorating Dwarkanath Tagore’s life is important because he is inspirational. He pushed himself to achieve great things even though he could have easily led a comfortable life collecting taxes as a zamindar."
First year college student Aditya Mukhopadhyay added, “It's also interesting to learn about how during the colonial times, a Bengali businessman tried to establish himself with those who were perceived to be superior to him. The idea of transcending the barriers of race and ethnicity to have an influence amongst the very top class and the royalty would've been unheard of for the vast majority of subjects. The manner in which Dwarkanath held influence and was invited to audiences with Queen Victoria is a great representation of his ability to seamlessly fit in to new and exciting circumstances.”
