New Delhi: Days after the recent omissions by NCERT on portions of Gujarat riots, Nathuram Godse, Mughal history and others, a prominent poet and former civil servant Ashok Vajpeyi said, "The idea of India is under a threat and that is for real, but no action can shake up our foundation." Speaking on the subject, 'Defending the idea of India' at the Constitution Club of India, New Delhi, on Saturday, along with other prominent historians, activists and others, Vajpeyi said, "We have been witnessing the disastrous development in Uttar Pradesh and other states over 'Bulldozer politics' and it is being celebrated. But, such developments, which are putting the 'idea of 'India' under a threat cannot shake up the foundation of this country."
With the debate over Hindu and Hindutva catching up the pace with many right-wing affiliates and the leaders from the ruling dispensation using this for electoral means, Vajpeyi said, "Hindu and Hindutva are two different things and are poles apart from each other. The ruling regime has been trying to impose a certain narrative of the latter, but it has nothing to do with Hindus."
He also added that "It is the job of the king to remove the fear from the minds of the people, but at the moment, the king himself is scaring everyone. "Aditya Mukherjee, a prominent historian, who taught contemporary history at JNU for over four decades said, "The idea of India was laid on certain principles, including freedom of speech, sovereignty, secularism, democracy and civil liberties, but all of this is under a threat in these turbulent times."
On the recent deletions by the NCERT, which has invited a lot of criticism from academicians and opposition, Mukherjee said, "NCERT's director said that these deletions are meant to lower the burden of the syllabus on the students created due to Covid-19, but we all know that this was done to suit the idealogue of the current times. By deleting the portions and chapters on the Mughal history, they're trying to create more animosity and are pushing the minorities into ghettoisation."
Similarly, Anjali Bhardwaj, a prominent social activist, attacked the ruling dispensation and said,"The government has been attacking the persons, who are asking genuine questions over accountability. RTI activists are being murdered, and people asking questions are being put in prisons. This government does not believe in accountability and thus, asking questions has become a crime."
"Look at the way how electoral bonds are a threat to democracy. We don't even know, who all refunding these parties, which poses a real threat to the nature of accountability and democracy. Extensions are being given to CBI directors and others. We are living in turbulent times", she added. At the venue, several academics, activists marked their presence, including prominent historian Mridula Mukherjee, senior Journalist Pamela Philipose, Prof Avinash Kumar, academic and political scientist Zoya Hasan amongst others.
