Union Home Minister Amit Shah (Source: PTI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah (Source: PTI)

Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday stressed on the need to rewrite history from India’s point of view underlining that there is not enough research work on likes of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Maharana Pratap.

Inaugurating a two-day international seminar in Varanasi on ‘Guptvanshak-Veer: Skandgupta Vikramaditya’ at Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Shah said, “Indian history should be rewritten from India’s point of view. We do not have any research work on the struggles of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The sacrifices of Sikh Gurus and Maharana Pratap are also not authenticated. Had there not been Veer Savarkar, perhaps the revolution of 1857 would not have been history.”

Shah said the 1857 rebellion would have been regarded as a revolt had V D Savarkar not called it the first war of independence. Shah’s remark comes days after the Maharashtra BJP said in its election manifesto that the party would ask the Centre to confer the Bharat Ratna on Savarkar.

भारतीय इतिहास का भारत के दृष्टिकोण से पुनर्लेखन होना चाहिए। हमारे पास छत्रपति शिवाजी महाराज के संघर्षों का भी कोई शोध ग्रंथ नहीं है। सिख गुरुओं और महाराणा प्रताप के बलिदानों का भी प्रमाणिक ग्रंथ नहीं है। यदि वीर सावरकर न होते तो शायद 1857 की क्रांति का भी इतिहास न होता। pic.twitter.com/GQSGxrBfLd — Amit Shah (@AmitShah) October 17, 2019

Explained: Why BJP has dangled the promise of a Bharat Ratna to Savarkar

“It is our responsibility to write our history. How long are we going to blame the British? We don’t have to dispute anyone, only write what is truth and it will stand the test of time,” the Union home minister said.

He also urged historians to write more about rulers like Skandagupta and Chandragupta, who had been not been given “enough due in the existing documented history”.

“Skandagupta Vikramaditya fought and won the war which even Rome lost against the alien enemy. He re-formulated the revenue collection method, administration and municipality,” Shah said.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said Savarkar had inspired “nationalism which is the core of nation-building”.

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