Nitish junks BJP pitch to rewrite past: How can one change history
PATNA: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Monday dismissed suggestions about revisiting history books made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the lead constituent of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state.
This comes a week after Kumar cold-shouldering demand by senior BJP leaders for an anti-conversion law in Bihar.
“History is what it is, how anyone can change it? History is history,” he told reporters after his weekly Janata Darbar in the state capital.
Kumar was reacting to Union home minister Amit Shah’s remark that it’s time to revisit history books as historians have focused only on Mughals so far, ignoring other glorious empires.
“Language is a different issue but you can’t change the fundamental history,” the CM said.
Kumar’s party JD(U) and BJP have not been on the same page on several issues such as Ram temple in Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370, Uniform Civil Code, triple talaq and legislative measures for population control. Though BJP has supported caste census in state, its leaders have been alleging that many “Rohingyas” and “Bangladeshis” have sneaked into Bihar and care must be taken not to legitimise their stay by including them in the state-level headcount of castes.
Shah had recently appealed to historians in the country to revive the glory of the past for the present, saying it will help in building a bright future. “Most of the historians in India have given prominence to recording the history of Mughals only, ignoring the glorious rules of many empires like Pandyas, Cholas, Mauryas, Guptas and Ahoms,” Shah had said at a recent book launch.
Presidential elections
Kumar dismissed speculation about his candidature for the President’s office and said he was not interested.
“When someone’s name comes up, there will be talks. So far, no one has spoken to me as to who will be the candidate. There has been no talk of any kind in the NDA regarding the presidential election,” he said.
Education policy
Responding to a question related to the new education policy, the CM said it is necessary to see that recruitment of teachers is done properly. “Many cases have come to the fore regarding this, which are being investigated. We want the recruitment of teachers become faster,” he said.
On the question of providing primary education in mother tongue, Kumar said this was already being done in Bihar.