Criticising a skewed approach that has ignored the contributions of the State and its people, Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam on Friday said that the Tamil Nadu History Congress should work to ensure that the State was given due importance when the Indian history is written.
Mr. Panneerselvam promised that the government would assist the TNHC in furthering such efforts. He was speaking after inaugurating the silver jubilee conference of the Tamil Nadu History Congress at the Madras University.
The event was attended by the State’s Minister for Higher Education K.P. Anbalagan, MU Vice-Chancellor P. Duraisamy and TNHC president N. Rajendran. R. Krishnamurthy, editor of the Dinamalar newspaper, was honoured — in abstentia — at the event for his contribution to the study of Tamil Nadu history and numismatics.
Quoting historian Vincent Smith, Mr. Panneerselvam said the study of India should begin on the banks of the Cauvery, but the Ganga had come to be at the centre of Indian history. Even figures like Subramania Bharathi find themselves on the fringes when Indian history is written, he added.
Mr. Anbalagan hoped that apart from their study on Tamil history, historians would strive to understand and write about various governmental schemes initiated by former Chief Miniser Jayalalithaa.
