“Most people who wrote history books have focused on leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, but ignored the contributions of other freedom fighters,” Bommarabetta Lakshminarayan Santosh, BJP national general secretary (Organisation, said in Hubballi on Sunday.
“To say that only Gandhiji’s efforts were responsible for India getting independence would be an affront to other freedom fighters. I am saying this with a lot of regard and sincerity towards Gandhiji and I know that such statements will attract a lot of controversy. But I am saying this as some historical facts should be stated as they are,” he said.
He was speaking at the launch of the Kannada translation of Swaraj 75 at an event organised by the Prajnya Pravaha and Arivu organisations.
“The freedom struggle was not limited to a few educated leaders. We got independence after the sacrifice of innumerable writers, youth, farmers, and the common folk. Events like the non-cooperation movement attracted the common folk in large numbers. Sadly, such things were not documented by historians,” he said.
“In our existing history books, we only get to read about Gandhiji and his followers. We don’t see much focus on fighters like Lal Bahadur Shastri, Subhash Chandra Bose, Mailara Mahadevappa, Aratala Rudragouda, and others,” he said.
“It is ironical that some people like Romila Thapar and Bipan Chandra, who had no regard for nationalist leaders and who did not highlight the contribution of patriotic leaders, were considered great historians in this country. However, now is the time for change. We are engaged in removing the dark curtains on history. We will make sure that the right version of history is presented before the country, especially before our children,” he said. “We are correcting some historical wrongs,” he said
He alleged that some vested interests, including some senior Opposition leaders, were spreading lies about patriots like Veer Savarkar. “These are leaders, activists, and historians who are affiliated to left-wing ideology and are engaged in appeasement politics. But that cannot be tolerated. You have to stop doing that right away. If you don’t do so, we will stop you,” he said.
“We have been repressed for long. We cannot take the repression any longer. Earlier, if we raised slogans like Bharat Mata Ki Jai, it was branded a RSS programme and if one says Vande Mataram, then it was termed to be an ABVP programme. That is not right,” he said.
He claimed that the economic policies of the past that were aimed at increasing gross domestic product, without creating jobs were meaningless. “Jobless growth benefits no one. That is why we are changing our policies. We will make sure that our policies will boost growth, increase GDP, and create jobs at the same time. We will also focus on supporting indigenous technology and innovation by Indians,” he said.
“The country is making unprecedented progress in all fields. We are on the right track. We should be proud of our achievements,” Mr. Santosh added.
