The government informed the Lok Sabha on Monday that the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has not begun any initiative to rewrite Indian history and is just “filling gaps.”

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan responded in writing to a starred query from CPI member K Subbarayan, “No, Sir. There hasn’t been an effort to rewrite Indian history started by the ICHR, Delhi.

Later, Congressman Manish Tewari brought up a “contradiction” between the ICHR and the Education Ministry in a follow-up inquiry. “It appears that there is a conflict based on the minister’s response,” The ICHR frequently and publicly declares that “we are rewriting the past.” We are currently working on a comprehensive history of India, the first volume of which will be published in March 2023. That effort involves more than 100 historians,’ Tewari added.

There are two distinct ideas. One is revising history, a credible closing idea that is acknowledged on a global scale. The other is the harmful and arrogant concept of rewriting history, which involves rediscovering the current narrative and anchoring it to certain historical moorings. Anyone who has attempted to rewrite history using this way from Bismarck forth to Zia-ul-Haq has failed, Tewari remarked.

So, I have a question for the minister: If the ICHR isn’t changing the course of history, what exactly are they doing? Tewari questioned, “Would the minister please enlighten this House as to precisely why there is a conflict between what you are telling this House and what the ICHR is saying.”

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There is no intention to distort history, Pradhan responded, repeating his written response. However, he claimed that the ICHR has launched a project (prakalp) on history. “Throughout the past 1100–1200 years, different phases of servitude have occurred in this nation. If we analyse the nation based on that era, we will find that there were numerous kingdoms, all of which made significant contributions to highlighting the nation’s culture, civilization, and identity. Today’s history ought to include this, according to Pradhan.

The ICHR, he claimed, is “filling the void.” No new text is being written. Using very basic lines, we are creating a complete history. We only perform that much. Only that much is being done by the ICHR. Shouting won’t make anything happen.

BJP member Satya Pal Singh stated that the prime minister had spoken on August 15, 2022, about removing all signs of servitude and questioned whether or not rewriting history was necessary to accomplish this goal. Pradhan responded that the government sees India as a heterogeneous nation. There is no need to change it because India holds this to be true, he said.

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