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'Rewriting' of History in India
Online Debates and Resources

March 2022

Events in the history of India have been the subject of multiple interpretations based on one's ideology and political leanings. Since the rise of Hindutva or Hindu extremism in the recent years, efforts are on to rewrite history according to Hindu nationalism. We bring you a list of resources and debates on how and why history is being altered with political motives:

By rewriting history, Hindu nationalists aim to assert their dominance over India
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/india-modi-culture/

Rewriting Indian History, François Gautier · 2003
https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Rewriting_Indian_History/CvgmBZYQe5IC?gbpv=1

Hindu nationalists rewrite history in India’s classrooms, Gautam Mehta
https://www.codastory.com/disinformation/india-reframing-history/ 

The Rewriting Of History…, Irfan Habib
https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/the-rewriting-of-history/214549 

BJP Has Been Effective in Transmitting Its Version of Indian History to Next Generation of Learners, Christophe Jafferlot, Pradyumna Jairam
https://carnegieendowment.org/2019/11/16/bjp-has-been-effective-in-transmitting-its-version-of-indian-history-to-next-generation-of-learners-pub-80373

Ramachandra Guha: A historian’s advice to Muslims in 1947 is relevant to Hindus today
https://scroll.in/article/946178/a-historians-advice-to-indian-muslims-in-1947-is-relevant-to-hindus-today

TrueIndology or TrueFraudology – A goldmine of fictitious historical claims, AltNews
https://altnews.in/trueindology-truefraudology-debunking-goldmine-fictitious-historical-claims/

‘False historical claims make us look like idiots’, Chintan Girish Modi
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/mumbai/false-historical-claims-make-us-look-like-idiots/article8317649.ece

Religious Sentiments and Writing Indian History: The Role of Fake News in India
https://adamasuniversity.ac.in/religious-sentiments-and-writing-indian-history-the-role-of-fake-news-in-india/

Fake News on Internet Is Helping Hindutva’s Retelling of History, Himanshi Dahiya
https://thequint.com/news/webqoof/fake-news-on-internet-is-helping-hindutvas-retelling-of-history

Checking Historical Fake News, NDTV
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hK-0z1tTyY

Fact-check: Did Shah Jahan chop off the hands of Taj Mahal workers?
https://altnews.in/fact-check-did-shah-jahan-chop-off-the-hands-of-taj-mahal-workers/

NCERT decision to remove chapter on caste struggle in Kerala from history textbook draws criticism, TA Ameerudheen
https://scroll.in/article/917353/ncert-decision-to-remove-chapter-on-caste-struggle-in-kerala-from-history-textbook-draws-criticism 

Tipu Jayanti: BJP wants to correct history’s wrongs. It should start with caste oppression, Ajaz Ashraf
https://scroll.in/article/855126/bjp-wants-to-right-historys-wrongs-like-tipu-sultans-legacy-why-not-start-with-caste-oppression

By comparing Akbar to Hitler, BJP shows there’s no place for even a 'good' Muslim in India’s history, Shoaib Daniyal
https://scroll.in/article/808377/by-comparing-akbar-to-hitler-bjp-shows-theres-no-place-for-even-a-good-muslim-in-indias-history

Bhagat Singh as revolutionary terrorist: Romila Thapar on why context is key to studying history
https://scroll.in/article/807630/bhagat-singh-as-revolutionary-terrorist-romila-thapar-on-why-context-is-key-to-studying-history

How the Taj Mahal became part of the campaign to erase India's Muslim past, Nadeem F. Paracha
https://scroll.in/article/767712/how-the-taj-mahal-became-part-of-the-campaign-to-erase-indias-muslim-past

Rightwing historians are obsessed with Rigveda because of their anti-Muslim stance: DN Jha
https://scroll.in/article/752993/rightwing-historians-are-obsessed-with-rigveda-because-of-their-anti-muslim-stance-dn-jha

Five things Hindutva historians are obsessed with (Shoaib Daniyal)
https://scroll.in/article/669435/five-things-hindutva-historians-are-obsessed-with 

Politics and the rewriting of history in India, Romila Thaparhttps://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0011-1562.2005.00638.x

Hindutva’s attempt at rewriting history is futile, Vikas Pathak
https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/hindutvas-failure-to-engage-academically-with-history/article29778678.ece 

Hindutva’s Dangerous Rewriting of History, Audrey Truschke 
https://journals.openedition.org/samaj/6636

The Hindutva view of history, Rewriting textbooks in India and the US (DASH, Harvard Library) 
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/9887609/GJIA%20--%20Visweswaran%20--%20PDF%20copy.pdf

Demolish, Rename, Rewrite: How BJP Changes the Past to Control the Future, Shalini Dixit
https://www.newsclick.in/demolish-rename-rewrite-how-bjp-changes-past-control-future

They Peddle Myths and Call It History, Romila Thapar, NY Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/opinion/india-elections-modi-history.html

Outsider as Enemy: Politics of Rewriting History in Indian, K.N.Panikkar
https://fsi-live.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/evnts/media/Panikkar_speech.pdf 

'All Indians Are Hindus': The Modi Government's Hush-Hush Efforts to Rewrite India's History, Rupam Jain and Tom Lasseter
https://thewire.in/culture/rss-aims-to-assert-their-dominance-over-india-by-rewriting-history 

The History of Re-Writing, Mohan Guruswami
https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/newsdetail/index/4/21020/the-history-of-re-writing 

How Bollywood is rewriting history, Uday Bhatia
https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/how-bollywood-is-rewriting-history-11575043190061.html

Distorting and Rewriting History of our Freedom Struggle
https://cpim.org/views/distorting-and-rewriting-history-our-freedom-struggle

Modi govt looks to rewrite Indian history to justify Hindu nationalismRam Punyani
https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/modi-govt-looks-to-rewrite-indian-history-to-justify-hindu-nationalism 

A history to fit Hindutva, Manu V. Devadevan
https://www.deccanherald.com/specials/sunday-spotlight/a-history-to-fit-hindutva-903488.html 

How Hindu nationalists are dealing with India's colonial past
https://www.dw.com/en/how-hindu-nationalists-are-dealing-with-indias-colonial-past/a-59125708

Distorting and Rewriting History of our Freedom Struggle (Peoples Democracy)
https://peoplesdemocracy.in/2022/0122_pd/distorting-and-rewriting-history-our-freedom-struggle

Hindutva makeover of the Indian Council of Historical Research
https://www.newslaundry.com/2022/01/27/explained-the-hindutva-makeover-of-the-indian-council-of-historical-research

Rewriting history so Hindutva brigade doesn't have to
https://www.dailyo.in/humour/rewriting-saffronisation-history-hindutva-akbar-maharana-pratap/story/1/15622.html

Price That India Will Have to Pay for Rewriting History, Omar Asad
https://clarionindia.net/price-india-will-pay-rewriting-history/ 

How India’s Mughal history is being rewritten by the Modi government, Charukesi Ramadurai
https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3103739/how-indias-mughal-history-being-rewritten-modi-government 

Why The Sangh Parivar Is Rewriting History?, M.J. Aslam
https://kashmirlife.net/why-the-sangh-parivar-is-rewriting-history-210871/ 

Is "The Kashmir Files" Trying To Rewrite History?
https://www.timesnownews.com/videos/times-now/shows/is-the-kashmir-files-trying-to-rewrite-history-newshour-agenda-video-90210098

This list is in progress. Please let us know if you know of some good archive on the Internet which concerns us and we may have missed. Please report if you find any dead links.

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