Prime Minister Narendra Modi while inaugurating the International Museum Expo 2023 on Thursday not only underlined the importance of history and heritage and the necessity to preserve and cherish it but also made an earnest attempt to set right mistakes committed while writing and interpreting narratives concerning India’s past.

His line of thinking is shared by a very large section of Indians including academicians and common people who have voiced their concern about how many personalities and events of the past, especially those associated with the Indian freedom movement have not been given their due. This has been due to gross negligence on the part of past administrations as well as years of subjugation by foreign powers and invaders.

Touching upon this topic, PM Modi said: “The long period of hundreds of years of slavery also caused a loss to India as a lot of our written and unwritten heritage was destroyed. Many manuscripts and libraries were burnt and destroyed during the period of slavery.”

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In his pragmatic approach, Modi viewed this loss not merely for India but the world and humanity at large.

Going further, he also hinted at how efforts were not made to set right distortions in the history of the subcontinent.

What made the situation worse is that instead of bringing to the fore what India had contributed to the world in the spheres of philosophy, spirituality, science, technology, art and culture and more, the Western view point was accepted and aped.

This definitely proved to be a detriment to the psyche of the nation and its people. They felt inferior as compared to others, especially the developed nations.

This is probably one of the reasons why taking pride in heritage has been included in the Panch Pran or the five resolutions taken up during the Azadi Ka Amrit Kaal.

This is the need of the hour as India forges ahead in diverse fields. Rightful pride in past and history will propel the citizens and youth to excel and achieve in all spheres and enable more than 5,000-year-old civilisational powerhouse to take its due place in the world.

All this should not be definitely construed to demean or underplay achievements of other civilisations and cultures which are equally important and have contributed to the progress of humankind.

Broadly touching upon how the present dispensation is bringing about equity in terms of chronicling narratives of past events and leaders, Modi informed that the Government is running a special campaign to conserve local and rural museums along with the heritage of every state, every region and every segment of society. “We are also building 10 special museums to immortalise the contribution of our tribal community in the freedom struggle,” he remarked.

The likes of Tilka Manjhi who led the Manjhi Revolt of 1785 by organising the adivasis against the English in Bihar; or Tirot Sing of Meghalaya who headed the Khasi Rebellion of 1833 and resorted to guerrilla activity against British are hardly talked about and much less written.

Likewise, people and students hardly know anything about Andhra Pradesh’s Thamman-Dora and Alluri Seetharama Raju who were part of the Koya Revolt of 1862 and 1922-24 or Govind Guru who in Rajasthan initiated the Bhagat Movement to address challenges faced by the Bhils in 1883.

These tribal museums should also motivate other countries in the world to showcase the history of their indigenous communities, many of whom have been marginalised in their own land like the Red Indians in the United States and Canada and aborigines in Australia.

Envisaging another important role for museums, Modi saw them as a catalyst to bring countries closer to each other. He cited how Lord Buddha’s holy relics that have looked after for centuries in India provide spiritual and emotional solace to the Buddhist world over. In this context he mentioned the four holy relics sent to Mongolia during the last Buddha Poornima and also receiving holy relics from Sri Lanka in Kushinagar.

Similarly, he talked about the holy relics of St. Queen Ketevan in Goa which when sent to Georgia created an atmosphere of national celebration. “On that day, many citizens of Georgia had gathered on the streets and it was a festive atmosphere. In other words, our heritage also becomes the source of global unity. And therefore, the role of our museums, which preserve this heritage, also increases further,” he observed.

Interestingly, the issue of smuggling of artefacts and relics too figured in PM’s address. He said India had been suffering because of this for hundreds of years. Expressing delight over the different countries returning India’s heritage he even gave examples of the statue of Maa Annapurna stolen from Banaras and the Nataraja idols built during the Chola Empire.

Highlighting the efforts made by his government in this front he informed that around 240 ancient artefacts have been recovered and brought back to India in the last 9 years in contrast to less than 20 for several decades after independence.

Wanting a global effort to come into effect for curbing artefacts smuggling, PM urged art connoisseurs around the world, especially those associated with museums, to further increase cooperation in this field. “There should not be any such artwork in any museum of any country, which has reached there in an unethical way. We should make this a moral commitment for all the museums,” he exhorted.

The PM also urged people’s participation in conserving heritage and history. He made a suggestion that every family should create a family museum and said “simple things of today will be an emotional property for the coming generations.”

He exhorted schools and other institutions and cities to create their own museums. This he said will create huge historical wealth for the future generations.

Also read: PM to inaugurate International Museum Expo to amplify pitch on heritage