For Savarkar, Indian history essentially meant the history of the Hindus as they gradually came to self-consciousness through their struggle against a perceived “non-self” or “common foe” — Muslims. In everyday politics, history is routinely served up as “analogue, inspiration, or warning”, as the historian, Matthew Karp, put it. We all know what a reactionary politics of avenging history looks like. One might instructively compare here the “Chinese dream” propounded by Xi Jinping and the ‘India dream’ associated with Manmohan Singh. The Chinese dream is a collective, State-led and historically-guided vision of making China a prosperous, strong and technologically advanced nation.

Source: The Telegraph March 28, 2026 02:08 UTC