Skip to main content

India's communal forces have very little respect for methods of history writing

By Dr Abhay Kumar

It is a matter of great concern that the communal forces are distorting Indian history and changing the content of textbooks to create an ideological justification for their sectarian politics.
Since the communal forces have been in power, they are fast implementing their sectarian agendas. The secular educational and research institutions are being attacked and their progressive characters are being changed.
The sole agenda of the communal forces is to keep the fire of Hindus versus Muslims aflame.
All those who disagree with their narrow and sectarian politics are being demonized as "anti-national". To justify their position, the communalists are trying to paint India as the land of “Hindus”.
The communal forces have very little respect for the methods of history writing. In their conception, history remains frozen and it is projected in a binary. The communalists are trying to erase all contradictions. They love to operate within stereotyped images of Hindus and Muslims.
This poses a serious challenge to the secular character of India. The secular scholars, therefore, have no option but to wage an intellectual battle against the saffronisation of history writing.
In an article published in the Urdu daily Inquilab (September 20, 2022), I discuss some of these issues.
For more, click this video file.

Comments

TRENDING

Neville Cardus: The man who turned cricket writing into poetry

By Harsh Thakor*  Neville Cardus was one of the most remarkable literary figures of the twentieth century. A prolific English writer and critic, he achieved distinction in two vastly different fields: cricket and classical music. Entirely self-taught, Cardus rose from humble beginnings to become both the cricket correspondent and chief music critic of The Manchester Guardian . His achievements in these contrasting disciplines earned him widespread acclaim and established him as one of the foremost critics of his generation. In February 2025, the cricketing and literary world marked the fiftieth anniversary of his death, which occurred in February 1975.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

The politics of dreaming: Savita Singh's feminist imagination

By Ravi Ranjan*  In contemporary Hindi poetry, few voices have explored the philosophical and creative possibilities of women's experience as powerfully as Savita Singh. Across collections such as "Svapna Samay" (Dream Time), Aapne Jaisa Jeevan, and "Prem Bhi Ek Yatana" Hai, she has developed a poetic world in which woman is not merely a subject of suffering or social commentary but a creator of knowledge, meaning, and alternative realities.