Revising the Legacy: Controversies Surrounding the Dictionary of Martyrs and Historical Reinterpretations in India

Dictionary of Martyrs, the five-volume dictionary that contains an account of the martyrs from India’s first war of independence in 1857 to its independence in 1947. It was a project commissioned by the Ministry of Culture to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the uprising of 1857. the dictionary marks martyrs as those who died or were killed in action detention or were awarded capital punishment while participating in the movement. 

Among the controversies that arose very soon after the erratic decision, the announcement of Vaariyamkunnan a Malayalam movie directed by Aashiq Abu caused the situation to flare up the way to ease. the movie was followed by three more announcements, two of which exposed his astonishing personality where one a pro-BJP film directed by Ali Akbar, figured him under a culprit’s closet and culminated in mass protests from right-wing groups to wipe out “Variyankunnan” from the list.And in no time, the ministry was forced to remove the dictionary from the website for “rectifying mistakes” in the list. and in a controversial decision, the Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR) detected 387 brave fighters. It marked them in the dictionary of the martyrs as those who contributed their lives to the country. The history of Kerala from the early 90’s shows how much glory and worth he is in its charters. In 1921, the Khilafat movement gained momentum across the Indian subcontinental. Mapiilas in Malappuram were successful in defying British rule and establishing an independent state, “Malayala rajyam” or Malayalam kingdom under the leadership of the great warrior, Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji. The state had separate passports, currency, and a system of taxation. Variyankunnan proved how hard he could stand against colonial rule. He tried his best by attacking officers, police stations and killing the landlord of the British side, and distributing those lands to the farmers.

The mass rebellion started to wave, British administration sent “Richard Howard Hitchcock” and a special paramilitary force deployed under him. They forced Mappila men to flee to hills leaving behind women, who faced the brutalities of the colonial forces.

British called the uprising “riots” alleging the Muslim community as “fanatics” who attacked Hindus and “forced them to embarrass Islam”. Variyankunnan has rebutted all these allegations on various occasions and in publications. In January 1922 British arrested Variyankunnath Kunjahammad Haji and the spiritual leader ali musliyar, and both were executed. 

In the novel of 1921 more than 100 prisoners of the rebelli0n were stuffed into an unventilated wagon by reaching their destination Tirur  64 of them were found dead.\prisoners were deported to jails across India like Andaman and Nicobar Islands

  Historians say that the Mappila rebellion triggered an Indian surgeon named Keshav Baliram Hedgewar to create the RSS with the theme of Germany’s nazi party in 1925. Vinayak Savarkar was one of the first to call the rebellion an ‘anti-Hindu genocide’

“ the RSS is imposing their interpretation of India’s history. The ICHR is painting Muslims in history as communal since Modi took an oath to office” said professor Gopinath Ravindran, who quit the ICHR after the Modi came to power. He says the BJP appointed dozens of people in the commission had nothing to do with history. In the end, The moke by ICHR to remove 387 names from the dictionary of martyrs of India’s freedom struggle is a step toward upsetting the secular foundation of the nation it is against the spirit of many martyrs and leaders who fought against imperialism and brought forth the India as a secular sovereign, democratic Independant state.