No one can stop India from rewriting its history: Shah
Union home minister Amit Shah on Thursday called for historians and scholars to study 30 Indian empires and 300 freedom fighters, saying that no one could stop India from rewriting its history with pride to remove past distortions.
He also called upon students and professors to correct history to get rid of “lies”.
The minister was speaking at the plenary session of the 400th birth anniversary of Lachit Barphukan, the 17th century general of Ahom Kingdom who defeated the Mughals, at Vigyan Bhawan, when he asked students, historians and academics to study the history of 30 Indian empires and 300 heroes associated with the freedom struggle.
“I hear many times that our history has been misrepresented… it has been distorted. There is a possibility that what has been written was right, but who can stop us now from rewriting our history with pride? We will have to amend this and put our history in front of the world with pride,” he said.
“I give a call to history students and university professors to study about 30 big empires that ruled
in any part of the country for more than 150 years and 300 heroes who bravely fought for the country’s freedom and even sacrificed their lives, and write about them so that we can begin a new history,” Shah said.
“When the history will be rewritten, the lies will automatically fade,” he said, adding this will help in “correcting the history”.
Shah underlined that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi supports any efforts to promote the truth pertaining to Indian history. “You come forward, do the research and let’s try to rewrite our history,” he said. The home minister asked history students to study about freedom fighters from north east region.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who also addressed the event, said: “Muslim powers attacked Assam at least 22 times between 1204 and 1607 but could win only nine times and those wins were also short-lived.”
The Centre is celebrating the 400th birth anniversary of Lachit Barphukan, the famous general of the royal army of the Ahom Kingdom in Assam, who defeated the Mughals and successfully halted the expanding streak of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, according to a government statement. Former President Ram Nath Kovind had inaugurated the celebrations in Guwahati in February. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the closing ceremony at Vigyan Bhawan on Friday.