History and National Security

There are worrisome national security implications of the present uses of history in India. The fact is that history has important social and political functions in every society. It is inextricably linked to contemporary politics –and therefore to national security. There is no such thing as pure history: objective and divorced from context, an academic discipline maintaining very high professional standards, in isolation in an ivory tower. The issue is the kind of history that we choose to tell ourselves —and teach our children —for it affects what we think and do, now and in the future.

This paper examines the links between the history we choose to tell ourselves and its implications for national security in India. It discusses history in the Indian tradition, the history that is current in India, some common current historical tropes, and why it matters. In the process it seeks to draw some real lessons of India’s history for our national security.

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