New Delhi: The Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) has denied the report that claims it is planning to remove 200 names part of Malabar's Moplah rebellion from the official list of martyrs of the Indian freedom struggle. The Moplah (Muslim) rebellion began on August 20, 1921, and went on for several months. Many consider it one of the first nationalist uprisings in southern India.
A news report published on Monday said that the General Council meeting of the ICHR has approved the recommendation of a 3-member panel to remove around 200 names who were listed as martyrs of the Moplah rebellion. However, Director ICHR, Dr. Om Jee Upadhyay while talking to ETV Bharat termed the report "completely baseless".
"First thing I would say is that it is completely baseless, nothing can be removed from history. Whatever has happened, has happened. There will be different interpretations. If you are asking about the dictionary of martyrs published by ICHR, there are five volumes covering more than 13,000 martyrs who were martyred between 1857 to 1947," Upadhyay said.
He said Volume-5 of the dictionary covers the entire southern states including Kerala and the Moplah incident. Some of the council members, the ICHR Director said, had "raised some objections last year on some names, so seeing the sensitivity of the issue, our competent authority, the Chairman constituted a committee of three historians to review the entire volume". "The committee met thrice and they saw all the primary sources and submitted their report in a sealed envelope," he added.
The Director ICHR said the recommendations were put before the council on March 27 adding the council in its meeting deferred to discuss it and no decision has been taken as yet. Upadhyay said the council of the ICHR comprises 18 historian members from across the country and any decision regarding an objection or recommendation is taken only after thorough consensus. The ICHR Chairman said that "since the Moplah incident and interpretations about it is a sensitive issue, the council will be in no hurry to make a decision without having discussions and consultations".
Also read: Hundreds of temples were destroyed by 'jihadi' elements during Moplah rebellion: Adityanath
