Page 72 - EducationWorld Oct 2021

Books

to its aspiration to earn plete account which is now
global respect because as available to a non-Pukhto THE FRONTIER GANDHI: MY
he takes pains to highlight, knowing readership. LIFE & STRUGGLE
China never has been an Bacha Khan is remem- Translated from the original
expansionist power eager bered by different names. Pukhto by Imtiaz Ahmad
to mould the world in its For Gandhians, he was the Sahibzada
image. iconic ‘Frontier Gandhi’. ROLI BOOKS; Rs.695 Pages 576
Although there’s no In his native region and in
guarantee that 21st century Pakistan, generally he is
China is as disinterested Bacha Khan. After release
as it was about establish- from his first stint in jail, of the authorities in what In Afghanistan, and
ing its footprint around he was called Fakhr-e- was the most securitised especially among
the world, in this work of Afghan, and that name too region of colonial India, the Pashtuns, he
deep research and brilliant has stuck in Pakistan and concerned about anything remains a revered
reasoning, Mahbubani Afghanistan. For Indians, new disturbing their figure even as armed
provides a compelling he is Badshah Khan. This enforced calm among conflict defines the
vision of a stable new autobiography, much tribes of the frontier. country’s politics
world order emerging after like Gandhi’s My Experi- Khan’s social activism led
America’s debacle in Af- ments with Truth, has the inevitably to protest which
ghanistan and retreat into endearing quality of sim- led to politics, and finally In this memoir, Bacha
relative isolationism. It’s plicity and honesty that to nationalist politics. His Khan’s faith shines
an indicator of disinterest comes through and speaks cadre of social workers — through and its enlight-
in foreign affairs of Indian directly to the reader. the Khudai Khidmatgar ened common sense can-
media and establishment Among Pathans, Bacha — thus became a political not fail to strike a chord:
that this excellent treatise Khan is and will remain, force winning elections “If progress and prosperity
hasn’t received traction in a legend and his political under the 1935 GOI Act, could be attained merely
India, currently confronted legacy remains very much and thereafter again in through prayers and giv-
with its own bilateral alive to this day. Thus the 1946 and forming the gov- ing alms, why would our
Chinese challenge in Aksai book has an endorsement ernment in the North West dear Prophet (PBUH) have
Chin and the north-east. by Malala Yousafzai that Frontier Province. struggled so much and
We don’t seem to have his message remains an Bacha Khan himself undergone so much hard-
learned any lessons from inspiration for her activ- was personally indifferent ship for what he believed
the lightning fast rise of ism for girls education and to the spoils of office and in... the fact is that prayer
modern China into a global women’s empowerment. much like Gandhi, deeply without action is unaccept-
hegemon. A big price will My Life and Struggle ambivalent about State able to God,” he writes.
have to be paid for this takes us through the power bringing about real Religion, as in the case
failure and neglect. details of Bacha Khan’s change. A close personal of Mahatma Gandhi, was
DILIP THAKORE early life, beginning with relationship with Mahat- intrinsic to Bacha Khan’s
his rising frustration about ma Gandhi became very political life and activ-
Forgotten Pashtun social and educa- visible in 1930-40, and in ism and although it was a
1947 amidst Partition and
deep and uncompromising
tional backwardness, and
Frontier Gandhi lack of unity. This was cen- massacre, the two occu- faith, it was never parochi-
tral to his activism and the
al. To him, a life according
pied a narrow crumbling
autobiography brings out ledge and remained stead- to the sharia is one with-
HIS IS AN autobi- the frictions it generated fast to their ideals. What out superstition, prejudice,
ography of Khan with local maulvis and was striking about Bacha retrograde social customs
TAbdul Ghaffar other status quoists such Khan was his grafting the and significantly, one in
(Bacha) Khan based on a as maliks or headmen, virtue of non-violence which women have rights
1983 text written by him who saw superstition and among the Pashtun — rais- otherwise denied to them.
in Pukhto. An earlier 1969 custom as integral to pre- ing in the process their In Bacha Khan’s case, as in
account, also translated serving the existing order self-esteem as also eroding Mahatma Gandhi’s, one’s
and published in English, and pride in their identity the stereotype, which nev- faith is not exclusionary
was deemed incomplete by and privileges. Inevitably, ertheless endures up to the and there was no contra-
Bacha Khan and he there- this meant Bacha Khan present day, of their pre- diction between one faith
fore wrote a more com- incurred the displeasure disposition to violence. and another. Through the

72 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2021