Bringing to fore the correct history; need of the hour
   Date :17-Jul-2022

loud thinking
 
By Vijay Phanshikar :
 
l When a questioner referred to India as a country that saw defeats after defeats against foreigners, Mr. J. Sai Deepak, the celebrated author of the book titled ‘India that is Bharat: Coloniality, Civilisation, Constitution’ was visibly annoyed. He said in clear but polite terms that the person asking the question had no idea of India’s correct history. In an online question-answer session, the author explained how India fought bravely against the foreign invasions and how it kept its identity and value-system alive when other civilisations collapsed elsewhere in the world. That was certainly a revealing session. UNFORTUNATELY, most Indians are unaware of the glorious parts of India’s history. And that is so because in our schools and colleges, India’s correct history is never taught with a serious intent of exposing the younger generations to what India actually stood for and what it has achieved in terms of knowledge, culture and civilisation. Of course, currently an army of inspired people is at work telling the true story of India not to the world but to Indians -- so that misunderstandings about our own past would not dog the society.
 
A strong narrative is being worked upon in the Indian social ecosystem. As a result, good numbers of common people in the country are getting a fair idea of how glorious India’s past was -- no matter the craftily drawn up propaganda against India by some pseudo-intellectuals and Left liberals. The gist of all that work in bringing to fore the correct history of India is that India was never fully vanquished by any power and the larger society kept up its struggle to retain its identity and value-system intact through invasions and attacks. In fact, India’s resilience is a matter of awe in the larger world and many thinkers across the globe often express their wonder about how India succeeded in fighting the aggression against its culture and civilisation. There is no doubt that India did see some patches of foreign rule. Despite that, the Indian society never gave up its quest and zest to keep its identity intact.
 
Of course, in the current conditions, Indian youngsters are not exposed to the glorious truth of India’s civilisational conquest. Intentionally, a gory picture of India’s failure to retain its independence and its slavery is painted before the young minds. But all that is now changing for the better. For, the army of dedicated historians and motivators has succeeded in creating a great and positive impression of the true story of India in the common people’s mind. In fact, this effort needs to be carried forward through educational curriculum so that our youngsters get the correct idea of the glorious parts of India’s history. What is needed is a genuine educational revolution in the country. The New Education Policy (NEP) has taken some steps in that direction. Yet, much more needs to be done so that Indian people know their own correct history.