GATE CS 2017 Set 1 QGA-6 — General Aptitude

To understand the author's opinion, let us break down the given statement:

"The hold of the nationalist imagination on our colonial past is such that anything inadequately or improperly nationalist is just not history."

• "The hold of the nationalist imagination on our colonial past..." indicates that our understanding of past history is heavily dominated or controlled by a nationalist perspective.
• "...anything inadequately or improperly nationalist is just not history." implies that if an event or narrative does not conform to this nationalist perspective, it is dismissed and not considered as "history" at all.

Thus, the author is pointing out that history is being selectively viewed and defined through the lens or filter of nationalism.

Evaluating the options:

• A is incorrect: The phrase "nationalist imagination" refers to a collective national narrative or perspective, not the creative capacity of individual nationalists.
• B is correct: This directly reflects the author's point that history is filtered through the lens of nationalism.
• C is incorrect: The quote discusses how the colonial past is interpreted, not whether it actually occurred.
• D is incorrect: The quote states that history is judged based on whether it is "adequately or properly nationalist", not that nationalism itself needs to be imagined in a certain way.