Guest guest Posted November 7, 2003 Report Share Posted November 7, 2003 >The Rediff Interview/HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi >"I have tried to create self-confidence in Indian scholars" >November 03, 2003 > >Union Human Resources Minister Murli Manohar Joshi caused a stir in the >Bharatiya Janata Party when he resigned from his post after a Rae Bareli >court decided to frame charges against him in the Babri Masjid demolition >case. >Twelve days after sending his resignation, he withdrew the letter after >Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee refused to accept it. >Joshi was in the United Kingdom recently. Not one to shy from courting >controversy, he told a gathering that Britain's industrial revolution was >funded by the booty looted from the colonisation of India. >In an interview to Senior Editor Shyam Bhatia in London, the minister >spoke about his early beginnings in politics, his impressions of the >freedom movement and India's proud heritage. > >Where do you draw your political roots from? Are they from [founder of the >Jan Sangh] Shyama Prasad Mukherjee? > >I knew Shyam Prasadji long before I joined the Jan Sangh. He was president >of the Hindu Mahasabha and one of my near relatives was affiliated to the >Hindu Mahasabha. So I've seen him as a young boy and I've been with the >RSS since 1944. > >Did you join because you thought Hindus were being mistreated? > >There were two or three things happening in the country. Those were the >days when the country was surcharged with nationalism -- that the country >must be independent, the Britishers must go. > >Now you see for young impressionist students like us, it had great >significance. Our teachers, senior students, people in the locality were >all talking about Indian values, the history of the British arrival, >attitude of the Muslims. All these things were in the air. > >There were demands for Pakistan and statements from Muslim leaders, those >were also being discussed. > >The other feeling was to work together against the British and throw them >out by organising the people. >As a minister what have you tried to do? > >First of all, I tried to create a sense of self-confidence in Indian >scholars by telling them that gentlemen you have made such great >contributions in the past. Till the 18th century you have contributed to >nearly all fields of knowledge. I tell them that this information >technology is based on a system of binary numbers. > >Who invented binary numbers? Indians. So you should be confident. There >are funds in everything and you can see their research flourishing, you >can see the social sciences flourishing, labs are flourishing. > >What about the text books? Have you organised a rewriting of historical >texts to give a different perspective? > >You see we have not rewritten, we have only corrected things. If you say >that Guru Tegh Bahadur was not assassinated by Aurangzeb but that he was a >plunderer, a marauder, that's the history which is being taught. It is >said that the Jats were dacoits. > >My point is that this type of history is being written by many of those >scholars trained under the British system. They were taught like that >initially. Then there was the Marxist influence and they continued with >their theories. > >Other scholars continue to insist that there was an Aryan invasion of >India, although that has been disproved. Yet they insist with this. The >reason was that whatever they had built up with the sociology in India was >based on the fact that the Aryans invaded India and drove out a section >who became the Dravidians. So there is a continuous divide between north >and south, between Aryans and Dravidians. > >What is the dispute between you and historian Professor Romila Thapar? > >There is no dispute with her, it is the approach to history. She doesn't >know Sanskrit, she has never read the original Sanskrit. She may have read >a tertiary source, what to talk of a secondary source. All I am saying is >please read the original source. None of these Marxists know primary >sources. > >On what are you taking issue with her? > >The Aryan invasion for example. We have proved by our ocean development >scientists that there is enough proof of the existence of human activity >in the region of Bay of Cambay in 7500 BC. We have proved it. > >I am saying let us know whether Indian civilisation is 2,000 years old, >7,000 years old, 10,000 years old. These are the results my scientists >have shown, this is the result of carbon dating. > >Marx wrote India had no history, that it has a stagnant history, it has >resisted change and has no resistance to foreign attacks. Thus you build >up a theory on which their sociology, everything is dependant. > >They argued that there is a north-south divide, that India is not a >nation, but a group of nations. All these things break down when the Aryan >invasion theory is disproven. A large number of scholars are now saying we >are right. The implication is that that the Saraswati civilisation is >prior to the Indus Valley civilisation and the antiquity of this >civilisation goes back long before 2000 BC. > >Surely, that's a cause of pride? > >Yes if you have self-respect, but not if you don't have self respect. > >What are the political implications? > >The implications are for the Marxist analysts. They say India is not one >nation, that goes; they are saying that the Aryans converted certain >people into slaves and made them Dravidians, all this goes. Social >cohesion, national unity, all this becomes more important. > >Coming to the 20th century, how do you view Mahatma Gandhi? > >Mahatma Gandhi was central to the national movement, but he appeared at a >particular point of time. Look to the war of Independence after 1857, the >first attempt to throw out the Britishers. > >There were many attempts to give a purpose for the movement of national >independence. Take the movement of Swami Dayanand. He talked about the >removal of untouchability, he talked about other reforms, giving more >rights to women. > >I am saying the attempt to push the mainstream of independence was not >started by one person. Look how Vivekananda energised the country, >Lokmanya Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Lala Lajpat Rai. All these people >were fighters for independence, they believed in the pride of India. >Mahatma Gandhi entered the scene in the 1920s as a Congress leader and >adviser to the freedom fighters. He carried the Congress according to his >own philosophy. But remember Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was also there, >revolutionaries were also there. > >Do you and the RSS blame Gandhi for Pakistan? > >The RSS does not blame Mahatma Gandhi alone for Pakistan. As a matter of >fact Pakistan resulted because of the internal weakness of the Congress >leadership who were tired of the struggle. Mahatma Gandhi was also forced >to accept Partition. > >What could they have done? > >They could have waited for a few more years. The Britishers had to leave, >but we fell prey to British machinations. Mr [Jawaharlal] Nehru made some >serious miscalculations. It was fatigue and a desire to take control, >these are the factors that operated. > >You have been credited with trying to distribute modern educational >technology, including computers that can be accessed by minority community >students, how has the Muslim community reacted? > >Very well, I have given them 200 computer centres. The resistance comes >from some of the madrasas [islamic seminaries]. But now some madrasas have >also come round. I have given them teachers of mathematics and science. I >say if you teach mathematics and science I will give you two teachers from >the central government. I give them enough support for Urdu journalism and >literature. I have introduced science, biotechnology, computers almost at >all levels in all schools. >When I took office there were only five IITs [indian Institute of >Technology] by the time the government goes for elections hopefully there >will be 11. > > > _______________ Concerned that messages may bounce because your Hotmail account is over limit? Get Hotmail Extra Storage! http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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