Ramachandra Guha: How BJP is distorting Indian history to serve a majoritarian agenda

Last November, in a speech in New Delhi, the Union home minister, Amit Shah, asked scholars to make sure “to present history properly and in a glorious manner.” He called for “research on 30 dynasties who ruled over 150 years anywhere in [the] country and 300 eminent personalities who struggled for freedom.”

The quickest to respond to the home minister’s appeal was the Indian Council of Historical Research, a body funded and directed by the Central government. A report that appeared in The Print in late February tells us that in “a record three weeks’ time,” the ICHR put together an exhibition in New Delhi titled “Glory of Medieval India: Manifestation ofThe Unexplored Indian Dynasties, 8th-18th centuries”. The dynasties showcased in the exhibition included the Cholas, the Kakatiyas, the Marathas, and the rulers of the Vijayanagara Empire. Unsurprisingly, no ruler or dynasty with a Muslim name was featured.

As a sarkari body, the ICHR has always reflected the political priorities of the State and the ruling party. When the Congress was in power, it was run by a cabal of Left-nationalists who upheld a Marxist-inflected version of history. This past tendency has been used by supporters of the regime to justify the present biases of the organisation.

The criticism...

Read more