A committee set up by the Indian government is working on rewriting country’s history, claims an investigative story by Reuters India.
Roopam Jain and Tom Lasseter, the two journalists who wrote the report gained access to minutes of a committee appointed by India’s Ministry of Culture.
This committee has been tasked with finding evidence such as archaeological finds and DNA to prove that today's Hindus are directly descended from the land's first inhabitants many thousands of years ago, and make the case that ancient Hindu scriptures like Mahabharata and Ramayan are fact not myth.
The committee's chairman, K.N. Dikshit, told Reuters, "I have been asked to present a report that will help the government rewrite certain aspects of ancient history."
India’s Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, who created this committee, in an interview confirmed the group's work was part of larger plans to revise India's history.
Sharma has reportedly told Reuters he expects the conclusions of the committee to find their way into school textbooks and academic research.
The panel is referred to in government documents as the committee for "holistic study of origin and evolution of Indian culture since 12,000 years before present and its interface with other cultures of the world."
Culture Minister Sharma told Reuters he wants to establish that Hindu scriptures are factual accounts.
Speaking of the Ramayana, Sharma said: "I worship Ramayana and I think it is a historical document. People who think it is fiction are absolutely wrong."
The article raked up a debate after it was shared widely on social media.
However, after the publication of this report, the Culture Minister has denied the committee intends to rewrite ancient Indian history and textbooks.
The Times of India reports Mr Sharma denied any intent to rewrite history or textbooks and said the committee, whose one-year tenure ended on November 11, 2017, had given various suggestions about the origins of Sanskrit, the Indo-European confluence and references to findings of the Kushan period.
Committee members have told TOI there are no plans to prepare history textbooks for schools or higher education courses as the mandate of the committee is to establish facts on India's history and culture.
"We are not making history textbooks or rewriting history. We are looking at resources, verifying facts which establish the millions-of-years-old rich history of India and its culture. Many of these have been presented as distortions or completely ignored," said a member.
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