Mamata Banerjee criticises saffron bid to tweak India history

 CM wonders aloud about the 'new mission' at a state government event to inaugurate the Alipore Museum

Mamata Banerjee during the inauguration of the Alipore Museum on Wednesday.: Sanat Kr Sinha

Meghdeep Bhattacharyya   |   TT  |   Calcutta   |   22.09.22 : Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday mounted an offensive on the saffron camp, albeit without taking names, over its alleged attempts to alter India’s history in books and popular culture with “a political purpose”.

At a state government event to inaugurate the Alipore Museum in the city in the evening, the chief minister wondered aloud about the “new mission”.

“We are being forced to think anew. Why? Why the new concept is coming? Why the new mission is coming? What is the concept? To change the real world,” she said, making that part of the statement in English, apparently to ensure that a wider audience was able to follow.

“To change the historical incidents. To change the geography, the history, the science, everything… for a political purpose. So that our new generation may not be knowing the truth for the country, and the freedom struggle,” added Mamata.

“That’s why the need of the hour, the need of the day is to preserve our history.”The Trinamul Congress chief has been a fierce critic of the BJP-led Centre’s alleged efforts to rewrite India’s history, which have increased manifold since the Lok Sabha election victory of 2019. The chief minister went on to underscore what she believed was a crucial quality of someone who led the nation.

“Your religion could be different from mine, but always remember that respect for religions, and humanity in religions is sacrosanct. Like the festivals belong to everyone, leaders too belong to everyone,” she said.

“Which leader is a good leader? The leader who leads the nation. The leader must lead the people, all the castes, all the creeds, all the religions, all the communities,” she added, stressing the need for inclusive humanism. Mamata has frequently accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and their party of relying on communal polarisation with the purpose of furthering the saffron camp’s divisive agenda for the sake of political gains.

A senior Trinamul leader said Mamata was referring to attempts to deify “controversial” figures that the saffron ecosystem considers iconic, such as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Deendayal Upadhyaya. Sometimes, he alleged, it is done at the cost of more widely accepted icons with inclusive, secular philosophies. He said Mamata steered clear of taking names in her address because she wanted to keep the event essentially apolitical in nature, but she made her point abundantly clear, nonetheless.

“Those who have given so much for the nation, is it not our responsibility to remember them?” asked the Trinamul chief at the event. “There could be differences in ideology between leaders, but I do not believe there can be any difference in terms of respect,” she added.

One of the Sangh parivar’s pet peeves is that most educational institutions in the country teach a “Leftist” version of Indian history that, among other things, glorifies Mughal rule. It wants Indian history rewritten to project the whole of Islamic rule as retrogressive, lionise Hindu kings like Prithviraj Chauhan and Rana Pratap who fought Muslim invaders or rulers, and extol ancient Indian (Hindu) knowledge and wisdom.