REWRITING OF HISTORY IN INDIA

An Anti-subaltern Project

Abstract

The present project of rewriting history is basically an elite project meant to legitimize the rule of Sangh Parivar in the country. Modern History, after its liberation from kings and rulers was more engaged in common people and their struggles. There was a general acceptance that the role of great men and women cannot be overemphasized to the exclusion of the circumstances that create or throw them up and therefore it is masses that make history. Fictions were replaced with facts. Religious history was relegated to the dustbins and secular history gained importance. Myths, beliefs and dogmas were replaced by scientific facts and rationality. All of a sudden, with the emergence of the Bharatiya Janata Party to power, the writing of history has been politicized. The objective of all history writing at present is to serve the interests of the ruling elites and not to seek after truth or understand reality.