Upinder Singh, professor and head, Department of History, University of Delhi, and daughter of the former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said on Thursday that history should be free from political interference of any kind.
Replying to questions by presspersons at Mangalore University, she said, “If one studied the history of history, it reveals that political situations have influenced the writing of history.”
She was here to inaugurate and deliver the keynote address at the 24th session of the three-day Karnataka History Congress. She said, “There is a methodology, analysis of sources and building of logical arguments.” She said she did not believe in history with Right and Left ideologies. “I stand for liberal tradition of history writing,” she added.
Ms. Singh said there was no last word in history. Historians have recognised oral history as an important source. There appeared to be a resurgence of interest in Sanskrit epics. “The question is what sort of investigation about the epic traditions are likely to yield the most useful results?” she said. She said that even if the epics were considered as pure fiction that would not diminish their historical significance.
Referring to teaching history, she said that undergraduate students should be exposed to the primary sources on which history is based. In the present system students are expected to unquestioningly imbibe “dominant historio-graphical positions and regurgitate them in the examinations”.
The former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s daughter and Professor and Head of Department of History in Delhi University Upinder Singh would like to see her father remembered in history as “a great teacher, a great economist and a great Prime Minister”. And what about his 10-year tenure as prime minister? “I think I have answered your question,” she told presspersons.
