Varanasi: Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday urged historians to present the true Indian version of history and not the British one and the need of writing more about great rulers like Skandagupta and Chandragupta Vikramaditya who had been not given enough due in the existing documented history.
“It is the duty of every country to preserve and nurture its history, it is the duty of the public and of the country’s historians. Till when do we keep on criticising the Britishers for it. Today the country is independent, edit our history and write out new manuscripts. I am sure the truth in our history will make it famous,” he said addressing a seminar at the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) here.
Shah inaugurated the two-day international seminar on “the role and relevance of famous ruler of Gupta Dynasty, Skandagupta Vikramaditya and the political future of the nation” at the BHU campus.
The Home Minister said the “biggest success” for the Gupta Empire was that they ended confrontation between the Vaishali and Magadha dynasties and moved towards the creation of a united India.
Talking about Skandagupta, Shah said the ruler had always tried to save the culture, language, art, literature and governance system of India.
“Chandragupta Vikramaditya had gained a lot of fame in history. But a lot of injustice happened to him in history. His might was perhaps not appreciated as much,” the Home Minister while espousing about the ruler’s significance.
He underlined that the Maurya and Gupta dynasties placed Indian culture at the highest position in the world.
“2,000 years after the Mahabharata period, the 800-year period became known because of two major dynasties — Maurya Dynasty and Gupta Dynasty. Both these dynasties placed Indian culture at the highest position in the world,” the Home Minister said.
Touching upon the contributions of Skandagupta, Shah said, “Skandagupta’s big contributions during his rule was strengthening governance, of cities and planning the rule for revenue collection for the effective running of the administration. He fought bravely with Huns.”
“But it is unfortunate that today if anyone asks for 100 pages to study on Skandagupta, they are not available,” he lamented.
Shah continued, “So, there is a need to write about the great rulers like Skandagupta, Chandragupta Vikramaditya and others who had enough due in the existing history.”
The Home Minister remembered Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya and thanked him for setting up the BHU, to him, had played a key role in rebuilding the country after independence.
“Whatever might have been on the mind of Pandit Madan Mohan Malviyaji at the time of the establishment of BHU, but this university has played a key role propagating Hindu culture and has stood tall to protect it,” Shah said.
“After hundreds of years of slavery it is very difficult for any person to reinstate the pride, only a university can do this. These universities are the reason why we are happy with the present-day image of the country and are assured about its future too,” he added.
Invoking Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, Shah credited the former for coining the 1857 rebellion as the First War of Indian Independence.
“Had it not been for Veer Savarkar, the rebellion of 1857 would not have become history, we would have seen it from the point of view of Veer Savarkar was the one who named the 1857 rebellion as the first independence struggle,” he further said.