Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi, is a “national hero” who “fought for independence from the British”, but his reputation was “tarnished” by previous governments. He should “figure prominently” among the list of national heroes to be taught in all government schools. So urges a letter, dated November 15, 2014, addressed to Union human resources development minister Smruti Irani. Posted on savetemples.org, website of the “Mission to Save Hinduism and Hindu Temples”, it has been described as a ‘project of Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) USA’. The mission, interestingly, operates out of the ‘Save Temple Office’ opened in Hyderabad city in June 2012.
The letter, interestingly, equals well-known Godse with other well-known freedom fighters such as Balagangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal, Subhash Chandra Bose, Veer Savarkar, Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, Sukhdev, Chandrasekhar Azhad, Vasudev Balwant Phadke, Chapekar brothers. Interestingly, Mahatma Gandhi does not figure in the list; nor does Jawaharlal Nehru, or even Sardar Patel or Dr BR Ambedkar.
Like these heroes, Godse too “fought” for the independence of India from British, the letter indicates, adding, the previous governments tarnished the reputation of all of these leaders, Godse not excluded, calling them “extremists, militants and even terrorists”, though they “sacrificed their life in order to guarantee freedom for the future generations. It is time to teach about their heroism, their love for Bharat, their struggles with British rulers.”
The letter states that most of the books written by “Marxists, Muslims and Western historians” are so “slanted, abusive, hateful, repulsive and intolerable to the true history of India, so derogatory to the national freedom fighters, so demonizing to Sanatana dharma, so negligent of the contributions of great emperors to establish Hindutva, and so boastful of the Muslim aggressors as contributors to the Indian culture”. The letter praises Subramanian Swamy for “calling for the burning of the writings by Nehruvian historians.”
The letter adds, “We feel that it is time to fire all these left wing historians who have stabbed the Mother India for many decades and employ those scholars who appreciate the richness of the Sanatana Dharma into National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT),Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) , National Censor Board and other agencies. It is time to reclaim what is lost, revamp the whole school curriculum, and rewrite the history debunking these leftwing Nehruvian historians.”
This letter tells the Modi government that school text books “should also teach children as to how Krishna Janma Sthala was destroyed, how Ayodhya was converted to Babri Masjid, how Kashi Vishwanath Temple was destroyed and built mosque in front of the temple, and how more than 2000 temples were converted to mosques.”
Teesta Setalvad's comment
Well-known human rights activist Teesta Setalvad, who has fought several cases of 2002 Gujarat riot victims, in a comment in Communalism Combat, says, “It appears that the Save Temple project is funded entirely through saffron dollars raised in the US. The appeal for donations towards the end of the letter informs potential donors that the GHHF is exempt from the US federal income tax rules. It is not clear whether the Save Temple Project is registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
Well-known human rights activist Teesta Setalvad, who has fought several cases of 2002 Gujarat riot victims, in a comment in Communalism Combat, says, “It appears that the Save Temple project is funded entirely through saffron dollars raised in the US. The appeal for donations towards the end of the letter informs potential donors that the GHHF is exempt from the US federal income tax rules. It is not clear whether the Save Temple Project is registered under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
Comments Setalvad, “The issue of the site, where the Babri Masjid, a 400 year old mosque stood, is at present before the Supreme Court of India after the mosque was illegally demolished on December 6, 1992. The other two sites, at Mathura and Kashi, have been at the heart of the BJP-RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal mobilisation that aims to ‘re-claim’ or ‘destroy’ the mosques that stand cheek by jowl to temples at these sites. Presently they are governed by the Places of Worship Act, 1991.”
She adds, “The letter comes at a time when the RSS brand of history writing is attempting a complete capture of India’s institutes of higher learning and research, and also at a time when the RSS-backed Shiksha Bachao Andolan is planning a national level conference at Ujjain of 200 ‘academics and experts’ to ‘review’ the emphasis and focus of the previous Radhakrishnan, Mudaliar and Kothari Commission reports. Supremacist and exclusivist brands of ‘history writing’ are making their political advantage felt with their unquestionable hold on the Modi government.”
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