New Delhi: Amid reports of secret formation of a panel by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre with an aim to “rewrite” Indian history in favour of Hindus, historians, academicians and social scientists have expressed their concern over it.
Most feel the government wants to inject students with distorted history of India.
“It is evident that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by BJP wants to create and teach distorted theories related to Aryans and Dravidians which were debunked worldwide many years ago;” says social scientist Nupur Raheja from Mumbai.
Social scientists are of the view that the government should learn to make peace with the past and move forward.
“Lets leave history to archeologists and historians and science to scientists. It is high time the government learnt this and stopped distorting historical facts established since ages,” says Delhi-based social scientist Naveen Makhija.
RSS attempt
Significantly, historians are one on the thought that it is Hindu fundamentalist outfit Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) desperate attempt to find a place in history.
“Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) must act against the ideology and diktats of RSS. If the party is trying to serve the interests of RSS by trying to re-create history, it is going to backfire big time and it will reflect in the next general elections,” says eminent historian Ramesh Gupta.
Historian Punish Verma says knowledge never hurts as it brings the truth out which sets humans free from superstitions and beliefs with no facts.
“But re-digging established facts of history by governments goes against norms of fair play and creates suspicion in the minds of people, particularly minorities,” he asserts.
Academicians, on the other hand, feel the government must work hard to ensure that good scholars change the curriculum of National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and universities across India but distortion of history in the name of revisiting it is uncalled for.
“Had compulsory education been started at the time of independence, we would not have had as many semi-illiterate to illiterate Indians as we have today. Many of them believe that the Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads and other scriptures are the words of God and are filled with scientific facts.
"The present government is only trying to establish that the source of all knowledge is Vedas, Puranas and Upanishads,” says Professor Sunil Sharma, professor of history, at Indraprastha University.
Retired academician Rajeev Maini from Jharkhand opines that the achievements of Hindus have been ignored in the last 700 years and there is nothing wrong in re-examining history.
But it must be dealt with sensitively.
'Indian view of history'
Historian Sanket Pathak says it is time we looked at history from Indian view, instead from the western or Muslim lens.
“Yes, our books which currently revere looters and killers have to change. India is a land of Vedas and Puranas. If somebody wants to know about India, then it cannot be done without understanding the Vedas and Puranas.
"But we must also see that it does not cause fissures in the society which is already way too hostile and divided at present,” avers Pathak.
