How Colonial Thinking, History Has Severely Distorted Perception Of India | GD Bakshi Explains

New Delhi: Retired Indian Army officer, Major General GD Bakshi, on Friday, shed light on how colonial thinking and historical distortions have severely impacted our perception of India and its past. At his book, titled ‘Indian Strategic Culture’ launch event, Maj Gen Bakshi, a defence expert, argued that the country's history has been misrepresented and manipulated by colonial powers, leading to a distorted understanding of India's rich heritage.

Bakshi emphasized that the British colonial era saw a systematic effort to undermine India's cultural and intellectual traditions. He noted that colonial historians deliberately distorted historical facts to portray India as a backward and primitive society, in need of British enlightenment.

He said that the distorted presentation of history has had a lasting impact on how Indians perceive themselves and their history.

GD Bakshi asserted about how colonial thinking has distorted India's perception of itself. He highlighted the strategic culture that has been persistent over time and emphasizes that it's not a short-term affair.

Addressing media personnel, Bakshi said, “The most salient part of this definition is that a strategic culture is persistent over time and it tends to outlast the era of its inception. That is critical. It has to have a tradition of focus, strategic thoughts going over the million era. It's not a short term affair.”

“The simple fact of the matter is, unfortunately, the colonial thinking, the colonial historiography, has so severely distorted the perception about India and its past that we are still facing the problems and the problems faced by George K Tanham, Stephen P Cohen, George Rosen was that they relieved on colonial historiography to analyse the past and present of India and quite obviously that is the place where you go wrong from the very outset,” the retired Indian Army officer said.

He further explained, “Colonial historiography was rather focused on the immediate past of the Ahimsa: non-violence based struggle so called, for India's freedom. I am afraid some of the historians (Indian historians) beg to differ. 26000 men of the Indian National Army laid down their lives to make India free and to call such a struggle an insult to those martyrs and their families.”

“But, that has crowded thinking about India as a pacific country, new buddhist in its approach, Ahimsa, spinning the wheel, etc. I am afraid the truth is otherwise. The Vedas mentioned war and major wars,” Major General Bakshi added.

“Ramayan is about war, the invasion of Sri Lanka, by the kingdoms of the north, by locally assembled tribal armed forces,” he stated.