New Delhi: Union Minister for Law and Justice Kiren Rijiju said that the history, which we have been reading since independence, especially about the freedom struggle gives only limited knowledge about the incidents and sacrifices, thus bringing the true and real history to the knowledge of the young generation of the country, is important.
The Union Minister was addressing an event ‘Unsung Freedom Fighters of North East India’ organised by a group of North-Eastern students of Delhi University and Youth United for Vision and Action (YUVA) at the University of Delhi. “When we want to say right things and try to mention truth in Indian history, some people get hurt and they say you are rewriting history. The question is not about rewriting the history, the question is about correcting the history and the question is about the place and position of those people, who deserve it,” said Rijiju.
“This debate about history being written again is meaningless, the question is that we should learn true and real history because we know what we read and understand what we see,” he added. The statement from Union Minister has come at a time when changes made in the CBSE curriculum have created a political row. A certain portion of the NCERT books like the chapter on 'Democracy and Diversity', 'Mughal Courts' and poems by Faiz Ahmad Faiz have been dropped from the Class X, XI and XII syllabi as part of the rationalisation process as per the recommendations of the NCERT.
The recent changes in the curriculum saw strong reactions from opposition leaders like Rahul Gandhi and even BJP ally JD (U) when Bihar Education Minister, who is from JD (U), said that the changes were undesirable. Some academicians and historians also expressed their anger on social media and alleged the government bulldozed history.
Although Union Minister Rijiju did not mention specifically the recent row over the changes made in the syllabus but questioned the modern history on missing a certain important part of history, especially those related to the freedom struggle. “I don’t go to ancient or medieval history, but let’s talk about modern history. Modern India and especially the history of the Independence struggle gives us only limited knowledge. Our history students are learning somebody else’s history. How is it possible that our students don’t know about North-Eastern states, but they know about everything about Europe and London and they feel pride in it? They feel proud when they read about Shakespeare and Lincoln, but not about Kalidas," said the Union Minister.
The Minister while addressing the gathering of students, academicians and RSS functionaries emphasised the need for learning and adaptation, which is indigenous. He also appealed to the youth to feel pride in visiting Indian places, using indigenous products and learning and speaking Indian languages. “I have seen this for many years that we become weak when it comes to our indigenous things. Some advocates are highly paid but then some advocates are highly qualified and have good knowledge, but they don’t get big cases because they don’t speak English. Why not those who speak well in other Indian languages be also respected? There is nothing wrong with staying with our own identity and existence, but there is less respect for that. This is the perception, which has come because of the books we read. So there is a need to bring change to them. If we continue reading what has been given to us, this will not be justice to ourselves,” said the Union Minister.
The event at the University of Delhi was organised as part of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ to pay tributes to the unsung freedom fighters from North-Eastern states.
