BHUBANESWAR: History in India is a debated subject. There is no space for alternative ideology as Leftist historians refused to acknowledge well-documented chapters of Indian history which is seen in the prism of the caste system.
These were the observations of three eminent historians who strongly advocated for a liberal academic space which nurtures level-headed dialogue and debate to revamp the Indian history which is so far a progression of singular ideological principle.
‘History: A question of Interpretation’ was the subject of discussion at the second and concluding day of OLF-2016 here in which three panelists consisting of Director of Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation Anirban Ganguly, Associate Professor of Sociology, Shiv Nadar University, Noida Samuel Berthet and Bangalore-based historian and author of three books Vikram Sampath gave their though-provoking views.
Initiating the debate, Gangly said there is huge gap in Indian history because of the selective approach of historians on a particular ideology.
He said multiple narratives to Indian history have got marginalised due to distortion of history by many modern Indian historians. “However, things are changing slowly. After a long time, there is a book on the travels of Saraswati River, a great pride to Indian culture,” he added.
Historians like Jadunath Sarkar, RC Majumdar and KA Nilakanta Sastri have made epochal contribution to the Indian history. They have been forgotten and the modern history has no mention about them, he said.
France-born Berthet who has been in India since the age of 19 said a nation has to homogenise its history. Though Indian ocean has a long history with Europe, the history of coastal India is grossly underwritten, he added.
Stating that Indian history has been made toxic by Left-oriented historians, Sampath said the post-Independence history is a Neheruvian history.
Left-leaning historians with pseudo-secular moorings distorted Indian history which even Western historians tampered with. Many scholars have attempted to expose the fallacy of this distorted Indian chronology but faced stiff resistance from the Leftist chroniclers.
Recalling his school days, Sampath said then, history books taught in schools was very boring. Similar is the feeling of students even now for history subject. As a result, it has not reached to the larger section of the society. There is an urgent need to make history an interesting subject without which there is no future, he added.