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HomeGround Reports‘India's only nationalist historian' — ASI's go-to curator was a card-carrying communist

‘India’s only nationalist historian’ — ASI’s go-to curator was a card-carrying communist

Kapil Kumar believes that Bhagat Singh was not a Leftist, Ambedkar was not involved in the freedom movement and Savarkar hasn’t been given due credit.

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New Delhi: Kapil Kumar is the Archaeological Survey of India’s go-to man for museums. The Red Fort’s ‘chief historian’ has become a sought-after curator, packaging India’s history for tourists from around the globe. From museums about the revolt of 1857 and the life and times of Subhas Chandra Bose to one devoted to Jallianwala Bagh — Kumar is a key figure in the (re)production of India’s history.

“Six museums, three light shows, and not a single instruction from the government,” beams Kumar.

A moony-eyed junior of Kumar’s gushes when talking about him. “India’s first and only nationalist public historian,” he says, adding that he’s translated a few of his idol’s seven books into Hindi.

Kumar defines his nationalist take on history as being free from the shackles of colonialism. His version of history has glaring absences: Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi. The figure that looms large instead is VD Savarkar.

“My entry into museums was purely accidental,” says Kumar. It coincided with the government’s move to rope in big corporate houses for museum production, and sound and light shows. The museums at Red Fort, for example, have been curated by the Dalmia Bharat Group in collaboration with the ASI since 2018. One of the historians chosen by Dalmia, says Kumar, wanted to create a space that viewed the freedom struggle from a feminist perspective.

He was aghast. “Red Fort is a national symbol! Why would you bring feminism into it?” Kumar complained. That’s when he got in touch with the ASI. It was the first in a chain of events that led to him being given the responsibility of curating all the Red Fort museums, and its sound and light show, Jai Hind.


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‘Lesser-known facts’

Kumar’s second-floor office at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library is cramped, with a Godrej cupboard full of books and papers. Yet, he is a gracious host: he greets you effusively, his voice is a deep baritone. He instructs an aide to ply you with your beverage of choice, be it tea or coffee.

He may have risen to the centre stage of historical scholarship only now, but he has worked in several prestigious institutions before this and written books on the freedom struggle, peasant revolts and the Congress’ attitude towards the “peasant class”.

After retiring from IGNOU as director for its then newly-established Center for Freedom Struggle and Diaspora Studies in 2014, 69-year-old Kumar was appointed Senior Fellow at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library in 2021.

His junior researchers and staff make for a small but eager audience — they are subject to Kumar’s bitter complaints about publishers and the bureaucracy that governs the museum world. He regales them with lesser-known historical facts — Bhagat Singh was not a Leftist; Ambedkar was not involved in any freedom movement and was unable to politicise the “SCs” against the British at Kurukshetra University; VD Savarkar hasn’t been given due credit; He was a freedom fighter who criticised Hinduism, time and time again.


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Veracity of his claims

Kapil Kumar doesn’t wish to be dragged into a war on historical revisionism in the middle of the NCERT textbook controversy. He doesn’t see himself as a Hindutva historian, what he wants to do is interrogate how history has been written so far.

What separates Kumar from the mushrooming breed of Right-wing historians is this. “I never said we should rewrite, only that old documents should be put into the open,” he says. He is, however, similarly vehement; convinced of the veracity of claims that sound outlandish to other historians.

Kumar has a stream of Nehru stories. India’s first Prime Minister wasn’t governing the nation, but manipulating ministers into doing his personal bidding and amassing a mysterious fortune in Singapore. Foreign Minister Krishna Menon used the contingency fund to buy a pram and toys for Indira Gandhi’s children. Kilograms of gold were lying in his bank locker.

Kumar is a storyteller par excellence, inflecting at the right moments with a voice that is made for broadcasting. But these are not stories for him.

“My strength is my evidence.”

He also mentions declassified documents that bring forth the “reality” of the Indian mission in Tokyo, at the tail-end of British rule. Kumar’s version of events is a spy-thriller waiting to be written. The documents were sealed by Nehru who became ‘pally’ with the Japanese, thus concealing vital truths about Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. A now familiar conspiracy theory is that Nehru rewarded the man who stole the INA treasure, the fortune recovered from Subhash Chandra Bose and the Azad Hind Fauj. It is a complicated, cross-country story, even involving a secret society in China. But Kumar’s point is simple. “The government [at the time] didn’t do anything for the INA.”


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Aggressive, difficult 

Some historians said that Kumar isn’t taken seriously in their larger community and that he hasn’t published a paper in the last 25-30 years. But for the most part, they were just reluctant to comment, either dismissing him or saying they were worried he would retaliate. The word ‘aggressive’ was used by multiple people to describe Kumar.

Historians also claim he is difficult to work with.

“I have never collaborated with any historian in India,” says Kumar.

A historian who went to college with him said that back in the day, Kumar was a card-carrying member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). “The CPI(M) was very powerful back then,” he said, requesting anonymity.

Kumar acknowledged that he was a member of the CPI (M) for nearly 20 years, from 1975 to 1996. But even then, he stuck to his nationalist guns. “I challenged [historian] Bipan Chandra like anything,” says Kumar.

Bose’s legacy

What consumes Kumar is Bose.

The narratives that continue to shape Subhas Chandra Bose’s still-shifting legacy are Kumar’s area of expertise. He is firm in his convictions—even if they don’t conform to the mainstream narrative.

He has written two books on Bose. The Lions of Bharat: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose & INA was released in January by Garuda Prakshan, a publishing house. It is a comic book that introduces children to the sacrifices Bose made during India’s struggle for independence.

Kapil Kumar presents his book The Lions of Bharat: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose & INA to UP CM Yogi Adityanath | Twitter | @ProfKapilKumar
Kapil Kumar presents his book The Lions of Bharat: Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose & INA to UP CM Yogi Adityanath | Twitter | @ProfKapilKumar

Kumar himself is depicted in the graphics as an avuncular neighbourhood historian who narrates tales to a group of children. It begins with Bose’s stint in Mandalay Central Prison, and is the first in a planned series.

“More such comics will follow to unearth the hidden history of sacrifices made by Netaji and the INA to liberate the motherland,” reads the book’s description.

On the other hand, Kumar’s Netaji and Azad Hind Fauj: Removing Smokescreens does not make for light reading. He was inspired to write it after he curated the museum at Red Fort that chronicles Bose’s contributions. The book delves into various “unexplored” segments of Bose’s life that were confined to the archives, placing them squarely in the public domain.

But his historiography of Bose isn’t devoid of conspiracies and intrigues either.

“The plane crash theory is false,” he declares. Bose just “disappeared” and that is where the story hits a roadblock. He is not impressed by what he calls attempts to malign Bose, especially by those who imply he had fascist leanings.

The Bose Museum designed by Kumar at Red Fort opened to the public in January 2019. It is one of four museums inside the fort—all of the content and archival material has been sourced by Kumar.

In the museum, Kumar wanted to highlight the “sharp contradiction” between Gandhi and Bose. On one end a quote by Gandhi rests: “India is not ready for independence,” it reads. On the other side is a quote by Bose — “Nothing short of independence.”

Through a combination of photographs, newspaper clippings, audio and video, and hours at the National Archives, the Subhas Chandra Bose Museum was born. Red Fort was chosen as its location because it was where the INA trials had unfolded; where INA officers Shahnawaz Khan, Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon and Prem Sahgal were held.

“Red Fort is a national symbol,” says Kumar.  He wanted to change the public perception of the fort beyond just a Mughal monument. Before his arrival on the scene, the fort had only the Mughal museum.


Also Read: An IIT engineer is publishing books others won’t. Garuda wants to ‘decolonise Indian mind’


Crowning glory

Kumar’s tour-de-force is Azaadi ke Deewani, a museum located ahead of Chatta Chowk.

A large, airy space; it is an homage to those martyred during the struggle for freedom. A mini cellular jail, Bharat Mata in an orange sari, and multiple poster boards dedicated to Savarkar are a few of its attractions. It handpicks events and personalities from a time known for its magnitude.

Spread over two floors, the second has framed photographs of “those who led from the front”. It is a vague definition and hence depicted is a motley crew of freedom fighters. Both Nehrus stare down at you: Motilal and Jawaharlal.

It also contains artefacts. A cannon is one of the centrepieces of the first floor.

| Antara Baruah | ThePrint
The cannon at the Azaadi Ke Deewani museum in Red Fort | Antara Baruah | ThePrint

“Tying Indians to the mouth of a cannon gun and blowing them to death was a revengeful entertainment for the Englishmen,” reads the blurb, written by Kumar. Not too far from the canon are the odes to Savarkar. A poem written by him while under imprisonment covers an entire wall, while the order to deport him from England has also been given prime real estate.

Reaching the masses  

Kumar has led a colourful professional life with stints in universities around the globe — Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and Australia. In 2004, he was briefly Member Secretary at the Indian Council of Historical Research, an institution that, in his opinion, has aged out. “They should keep their ideology at home,” Kumar says.

Since ‘public’ is the prefix Kumar uses ahead of historian, he can be seen on the occasional television debate. He was on NDTV recently, discussing the NCERT deletions. Kumar is advocating for what is missing from history textbooks — the unjust treatment of the INA by Nehru.

Expansionism is mentioned but not Chinese expansionism, he says. “Is China not the world’s biggest money lender? Is China not a war monger?” he asks. He has perfected the brashness needed for TV debates; flying off into a temper one minute, and speaking in dulcet tones the next.

He has also set up a non-profit: Organization of Unearthing Suppressed Realities of Hindustani History. But the link to its website is broken and its Twitter has been inactive since December 2020.

He frequently shares videos on YouTube where he holds fort on an array of topics, positioning himself as the historian who’s here to set things right. Bose features prominently, there is a blistering response to those who call the freedom fighter a fascist. He yells at Joe Biden, now a Khalistani supporter. Trade is the root cause of all ills that have befallen the country. None other than Mahatma Gandhi wanted to put the Union Jack in the Tricolour—it is a secret no one will tell you, except Kumar.

He has just over 9,000 subscribers but his videos seldom cross a thousand views. One that does pass the milestone, however, is Kumar’s interview with another historian, Makkhan Lal. The two discuss the caste system as being a British concept.

Kumar is undeterred by the lack of views, and posts videos regularly. His small band of followers enjoy them.

“Kapil Kumar is a professor like ravish sahab journalist,” writes one commenter.

(Edited by Theres Sudeep)

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