Indian history needs to be revisited, distortions corrected: Union minister

Claiming that a distorted version of history has been taught in India by a particular group of historians, Union Minister for Heavy Industries, Mahendra Nath Pandey said "Indian history needs to be revisited and efforts must be made to correct these distortions."

Pandey said this while addressing a conference organised by Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) and Akhil Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana at Gopal Narayan Singh University, Jamuhar (Sasaram) on Monday.

"Most of the historians did not do justice to India or India's culture and civilization. A distorted version of history has been taught by a particular group of historians. This is the time to initiate deliberations, effect course corrections and rectify this mistake and finally glorify ancient Indian history. We must correct the distorted view of Indian history that has been presented to us by certain historians belonging to particular ideologies", the Union Heavy Industries minister said.

Indian history needs to be revisited for some fundamental corrections, he said.

Pandey said, "The reality is that the Indian civilization is very old. People of this civilization were way ahead of most of the world in terms of knowledge and administration. It is important for the nation to set the record straight. The history must be recorded in an objective manner. The task, therefore, has been entrusted to project Indian ancient history in its correct version".

"We hardly find any mention of great emperors like Samudragupta and Skandagupta in our ancient history books," he said, adding, "I must say that India got independence in 1947, but we have not attained cultural independence so far".

Speaking at the conference, Suresh Soni, member (national executive), RSS, said, "This is the right time to glorify India's rich past in a correct form. The process has now started and all required corrections are being made in Indian history".