New Delhi: A tweet on Gujarat by historian Ramchandra Guha, quoting a British writer, triggered a social media furore Thursday, and unwittingly ended up uniting political rivals BJP and Congress.
Guha, quoting British writer Phillip Spratt from 1939, wrote: “Gujarat, though economically advanced, is culturally a backward province… . Bengal in contrast is economically backward but culturally advanced”.
Philip Spratt, writing in 1939
"Gujarat, though economically advanced, is culturally a backward province… . Bengal in contrast is economically backward but culturally advanced".
Philip Spratt, writing in 1939.— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) June 11, 2020
And while many from the BJP, including Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, rushed to the state’s defence, the Congress too weighed in, with senior leader Ahmed Patel calling it an “ill informed statement”.
“Earlier it was the British who tried to divide and rule. Now it is a group of elites who want to divide Indians.
Indians won’t fall for such tricks,” Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani tweeted.
Rupani added that both Gujarat and Bengal are great and India is “united”.
Earlier it was the British who tried to divide and rule. Now it is a group of elites who want to divide Indians.
Indians won’t fall for such tricks.
Gujarat is great, Bengal is great…India is united.
Our cultural foundations are strong, our economic aspirations are high. https://t.co/9mCuqCt7d1
— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) June 11, 2020
Soon after, Sitharaman too put out a tweet against the quote.
“In 1939, when Philip Spratt, from Britain, belonging to the Communist International wrote, (who @Ram_Guha quotes) this was what was happening in Gujarat: Jamnagar…Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja…saved 1000 Polish children #Culture,” she wrote, citing a news report from 2018.
The report, by Ahmedabad Mirror talked about an event organised by Poland in honour of Maharaja Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Jadeja, the former king of Jamnagar.
Guha responded to Sitharaman’s critique — taking a jibe at the state of the economy.
“I thought it was only the Gujarat CM, but now it seems even the FM is obsessing about a humdrum historian’s tweets. The economy is surely in safe hands,” he wrote.
I thought it was only the Gujarat CM, but now it seems even the FM is obsessing about a humdrum historian's tweets. The economy is surely in safe hands. https://t.co/bBpcK85Hel
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) June 11, 2020
Ahmed Patel rebuts Guha
Senior Congress leader Patel, meanwhile, expressed his displeasure over the tweet Thursday evening.
“This is an ill informed statement,” Patel said, quote-tweeting Guha’s tweet.
“From Kutch to Vapi & from Shyamlaji to Dwarka,Gujarat’s culture is built on striking diversity but united through indomitable entrepreneurial spirit
Every culture has it’s unique greatness,backwardness is our failure to understand this fact,” he added.
This is an ill informed statement
From Kutch to Vapi & from Shyamlaji to Dwarka,Gujarat’s culture is built on striking diversity but united through indomitable entrepreneurial spirit
Every culture has it’s unique greatness,backwardness is our failure to understand this fact https://t.co/IKCLOnf85I
— Ahmed Patel (@ahmedpatel) June 11, 2020
Patel is Congress’ Rajya Sabha MP from Gujarat and also served as the political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi from 2001 to 2017.
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Guha’s disclaimer
Guha responded to the widespread criticism he received for his comparison of Bengal and Gujarat by adding a disclaimer later, saying that “he may or may not endorse” what he is quoting.
“Statutory warning; when I post quotes by others found in the course of my research, I do so because I find them arresting in some way. I may (or may not) endorse, in part or in whole, what I am quoting. Reserve your praise or your anger for the ghost of the person being quoted,” he wrote.
Statutory warning; when I post quotes by others found in the course of my research, I do so because I find them arresting in some way. I may (or may not) endorse, in part or in whole, what I am quoting. Reserve your praise or your anger for the ghost of the person being quoted.
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) June 11, 2020
Subsequently, he also took a jibe at Rupani for taking note of his tweet.
If the Gujarat Chief Minister is, at this moment in history, (a) so keenly following the tweets of a humdrum historian and (b) so easily confusing the historian with a dead writer being quoted, the State of Gujarat must indeed be in safe hands.
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) June 11, 2020
Guha also said he has been “trying without success for thirty years to make the writer Philip Spratt better known,” and that he thanks the ‘Troll Army’ for accomplishing that.
I have been trying without success for thirty years to make the writer Philip Spratt better known; thank you to the Troll Army for accomplishing this in a day.
— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) June 11, 2020
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