V.S. Naipaul is a. great travel writer. His two earlier books: An Area of Darkness and India-A Wounded Civilization about India are brilliantly written. India a Million Mutinies Now is touted as another masterpiece. But this book turned out to be banal boring and narcissistic with no application to the sensational tile. The book is divided into 9 sections. Excerpts from section 8 were published in The New York Review of Books (37:69-76 D 20 1990) a lengthy article authored by none other than Naipaul himself. The section 8-The Shadow of the Guru is about the Sikhs a main focus of my review.
Naipaul introduces Vishwa Nath the publisher of Sarita who revealed: “The Hindu religion is a conglomeration of 500 religions. We’ve had reformist movements from .the dawn of civilization against orthodoxy. Every reform movement degenerates into a sect Buddha rebelled Mahavir rebelled. Guru Nanak the founder of the Sikhs rebelled.” With a slight Hindu twist to Naths revelation Naipaul adheres lavishly to a belief “Guru Nanak rebellion or breaking away had been prompted by the horrors of the Muslim invasions.” For all practical purposes Naipaul oversimplified Sikhism neglected to pay attention to the Sikh theology: Sikh history; and the social religious political upheavals of Nanaks 15th century
Punjab Naipaul portrays the present Sikh struggle for independence as a fundamentalist movement a view shared by the mainstream Indian Press Naipaul sidetracked politics of issues and focused obsessively on Personalities particularly to that of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwales. Since Naipaul ever met Bhindranwale himself he does what others foolishly tried contacting Indian Journalists. In this ease Naipaul presents Dalip (no last name given) who is a Journalist for an Indian weekly and a correspondent for a Canadian paper. Which ones? No. mentioned. Dalip claims to have met Bhindranwale (5 times I counted in the narrative) on the Golden Temple premises. Two visits alone one visit along with a friend and last two visits with a group. Of those on three visits Dalip briefly chatted (even friendly chats) with Bhindranwale Dalip depicts Bhindranwale as a “Killer man with angry eyes red eyes when angry and dangerous.” Dangerous because in Dalip own words Bhindranwale looked “lean and hungry.” If looking lean and hungry is the criteria of being dangerous no wonder India indeed is full of danger. What caught my attention about Dalip was his abdication of journalistic ethics the least of which expects a journalist to ascertain and report the truth For example Dalip published two articles against Bhindranwale One on Naxalite in Bhindranwales inner circle and the other one-more menacing where Dalip conducted a popularity poll-in his own mind-and published the article “The Sant in Isolation.” As a result Dalip claims Bhindranwale threatened to kill him when they saw each other on the 4th visit. But the non Dalips 5th visit (which is along with some local journalists) Bhindranwale offered Dalip-and only Dalip-a piece of sweet and a banana to eat. To Dalips way of thinking “he [Bhindranwale] didn’t like me anymore.” Dalips testimony doesn’t stand the rigors of even a simple scrutiny. Dalipis inconsistent lacks interpersonal and communication skills are professionally incompetent and therefore unreliable But Naipaul isn’t incompetent. He is known for his excellence in as probing questions analyzing remarks of those he confers face to face. Why didn’t he examine Dalip?
Naipaul accompanied by a correspondent from Hindustan Times Visits Jaspal village where 48 hours earlier Buta Singh his brother mother father and grandfather are murdered. Bonafide Sikhs are blamed for this crime because witness named Joga “recognized the killers (at night time) “the tone of voices convinced him that they were the boys “the Singh’s.” The author couldn’t find police or any official in the village rat the massacre site. Nor did he pursue why it happens routinely in Punjab that Police hardly ever conduct formal investigations into the massacres. Another murder site visited where the author solved the crime all by himself-in 1a matter of seconds. Ranjit was one of political prisoners held at Jodhpur prison. The day he was released his brother was Killed. The author writes “Ranjit didn’t say who his brother had been killed by.” Therefore Naipaul concluded rather smugly “this suggested that his brother had been killed by the boys.” Crime solved. Culprit the Sikhs. At two places the author showed his lack of attention to the details. First describing the 197 incident of Bhindranwales preaching tour in Gaganagar Rajasthan Second on page 456 martyrdom of the sixth Guru the corrections are Ganganagar and fifth Guru respectively.
In the feat of sheer imbecility Naipaul appears to blame the Sikh bodyguards for the massacre of thousands of Sikhs which followed Indira Gandhi’s assassination Gandhi was murdered 5 months after the Operation Bluestar and a week before the launching of Operation Shantian operation that was to be the Sikhs Final Solution. Again Naipaul opted the simple way out castigating the dead bodyguards Naipaul ignored much frequently available evidence that the Sikh Killings were premeditated and prearranged-with the complicity of the ruling Congress party senior members and the security forces.
In India-A Wounded Civilization (mid-“70s) Naipaul referred Indian journalism as “a gracious form of clerkship” with no craving and capability for conducting any social inquiry or investigative work ironically the late “80s and early 90’s presented a contrasting picture-Naipaul tactically glued together with the Indian journalists. As a consequence of that not to any one’s surprise The Shadow of the Guru is a rambling hodgepodge of ill-conceived Hindu-invented ideas rife with distortions and slander of the Sikh Nation This section is highly ambiguous essentially one-sided incomplete lacks intellectual insight and objectivity’s devoid of substance strewn with errors and anti-Sikh.
Taking into consideration the given title of the book what is more disturbing is not how and what Naipaul wrote but what he omitted. Especially those events that occurred during the authors travel time in India-December 1988 to February 1990. Since Punjab was off-limits to foreign travelers under what terms of agreement Naipaul entered Punjab we will never know. There is not even an indirect reference to the political unrest of Assam Nagaland and other secessionist states; no mention of uproar in Tamil Nadu against Operation Pawan-the Indian army assault in Sri Lanka; no mention of extremely violent 1989 parliamentary elections; and no mention of the beginning of mass uprising in Kashmir. This is only a glimpse of a long list of extraordinary political events the author chose to selectively bypass. Come to think of not even the name-Rajiv Gandhi is stated from one end of the book to the other.
In summation there is not much in this book pertaining to what the title says India a Million Mutinies Now It is essentially an innocent account of the tumultuous India. I would not recommend this book to anyone desiring to learn-Political India. But at the same time Naipauls books on India are valuable to those inquisitive to learn the complex Hindu psychology and its interrelation ships with the ever-changing outside world.
G.BSingh
Waynesville GA.
Article extracted from this publication >> April 10, 1992
