india

Updated: Oct 17, 2019 20:26 IST

Union home minister Amit Shah called for rewriting history from the Indian point of view and credited Hindu Mahasabha ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar for recognising the 1857 mutiny as India’s first freedom struggle as opposed to the “British” view. Shah was speaking at a seminar on Gupta dynasty ruler Skandagupta at Banaras Hindu University in Varanasi on Thursday.

Shah’s remarks comes close on the heels of the Maharashtra BJP manifesto’s advocacy for the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, for Savarkar.

“Had it not been for Veer Savarkar, the 1857 ‘kranti’ (revolt) would not have become history and we would have been seeing it from the British point of view,” the home minister said.

Shah asked Indian academics to stop blaming the British and the leftists for the “injustice” to Indian history and instead document 25 kingdoms and 200 great personalities overlooked by historians.

“Forget who wrote what. Don’t get into controversy. Write history from the Indian point of view,” Shah said and added, “How long will you keep criticising the British and the Leftists for injustice to Indian history? Who stopped you from writing history based on truth.”

Discussing the Maurya and Gupta dynasties, Shah said the Indian boundary extended up to Afghanistan during the reign of Skandagupta, which he described as a golden era.

The home minister also praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making India “regain” its respect in the world.

“Respect for the country has increased under him. The world pays attention to our point of view. The world listens when our PM speaks on international developments,” Shah said.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was also present at the function, said great men of history were overlooked by some due to a conspiracy but India was now getting honoured across the world and great men were being remembered under the prime ministership of Narendra Modi.