While the distortion of history is “nothing less than a big crime”, the growing trend to “rewrite” the country’s history is alarming, said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
She was speaking to a full house at the 78th Indian History Congress [IHC] at Jadavpur University on Friday.
Over the past two days, country’s foremost historians have expressed deep anxiety about trends they described as “distortion of history.” Continuing with the argument of the historians, Ms. Banerjee said she too was “apprehensive”. Without naming any party or individual, Ms. Banerjee said, “when political parties starts writing history, my apprehension is whether this history [could be] distorted as political history; [it] can satisfy one but it is not history.”
Arguing that “history is reality and truth and truth can not be misguided”, Ms. Banerjee said the tendency to change history may have an impact on scholars and researchers.
“There is a tendency to rewrite the history. Then what [would remain] for our researchers or scholars…if the past is not there. [And] if the past is not there what would remain of our future?” she said.
Noted historian Professor Irfan Habib argued on Thursday, during the opening day of the IHC, that it is not expected that only one type of history will be written in the country. But it is important to ensure that the facts are not changed when any form of history is written, Prof Habib said. Ms. Banerjee argued on similar lines and went a step further to define distortion of history as “a political vendetta.”
“These days we hear that Mahatma Gandhi is not a patriot but Nathuram Godse was one… but it appears as political vendetta to me,” she said.
She also questioned if it was “reasonable” to commission any non-historian to write the history. “My job is to address rallies and I cannot write history. It is the job of the scholars and the historians. Problem is those who do not even know the ABC of history [are writing it]… this is alarming for the future generation,” she said.
“I’m always in favour of history and truth. To distort fact is nothing less than a crime and my request [is to treat] history as history and not to make it a mystery,” Ms. Banerjee said.
