BENGALURU: Historians like Prof Irfan Habib and Prof A Karunanandan criticised the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 for its attempts to rewrite Indian history poorly. The two historians were speaking at a national webinar organised by the All India Save Education Committee (AISEC) on Sunday, titled ‘Distorting Indian History in the Name of Rewriting’.
Karunanandan said that while history is not an unalterable scripture and can be perfected through academic deliberations and exercise, current attempts to rewrite history are being done through abuse of power by diktats of officialdom. “The current government is abusing the UGC to impose a unitary syllabus throughout higher education institutions, for political agenda and not for academic purposes.
New discoveries in history must be checked by historians, not by the government and politicians. History is allowed to be interpreted and reinterpreted through academic means, but the current government is trying to push its hidden political agenda into education,” he said.
Habib said historians have worked hard to create an accurate account of history, and while there may be inaccuracies, these are based on facts that have been researched. However, the government’s interpretations on practices like Sati, or differences between the Aryan and Dravidian races are based on religion, rather than facts.
“Indian history must not just be the history of rulers and priests, but the history of all people. Therefore, many new aspects have been added to Indian history to acknowledge women’s history, peasant history and intellectual and socio-economic history, which were not regarded as part of the nation’s past. It is a disservice to misinterpret civilisations and practices,” said Habib.
Alongside Habib and Karunanandan, several professors like Prof Ram Puniyani, retired professor from IIT-Mumbai, Prof Anita Rampal, former dean from Delhi University, and Prof Pradeep Mahapatra, retired professor from Assam, also expressed their criticism on the rewriting of history.