India’s independence would have been delayed by decades if “armed revolution had not started,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah said.
Referring to the Congress-led movement, the Home Minister said that it was successful “only because of” the spark created by the armed revolution by freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh and others. “History is ruthless, it can’t be distorted. It shines like lightning on a dark night and eventually, it comes out and has to be accepted. Nobody can suppress or hide the history of India’s independence,” he added.
Shah’s remarks came at a book launch event by Sanjeev Sanyal titled ‘Revolutionaries (The other story of how India won its freedom).
“When Bhagat Singh was hanged by the British, people from Lahore to Kanniyakumari lamented his death. I am not only talking about Bhagat Singh but we need to understand that if the violent revolt against the British hadn’t started independence would have been delayed by decades. Many others like me believe that the Congress-led freedom movement was successful only because of the nationalism arisen from the armed revolution. I can also prove that if armed revolutions had not taken place, independence would have been delayed by decades,” Shah said.
“Revolutionaries from every part of India were housed in cellular jail and this proves that the violent revolution against the British was not an isolated effort,” he added.
The Home Minister said that those responsible for writing India’s independence history failed to present the Indian perspective.
“People responsible for evaluating and writing the history of our independence for our youths have made mistakes as they failed to provide our perspective. British had gone but their mentality remained engraved and this book will help remove that confusion,” he said.
Shah pointed to the loopholes in the history of India’s independence and said that the Indian perspective of the history of Independence is imperative as history was seen from the perspective of the British and was written likewise that’s why there’s this confusion.
Stating that History can’t be distorted, Shah said that India’s independence history cannot be suppressed.
“History is ruthless, it can’t be distorted. It shines like lightning on a dark night & eventually, it comes out and has to be accepted. Nobody can suppress or hide the history of India’s independence,” he said.
Highlighting India’s past, the Home Minister said that there have been empires that have ruled the country even before the Mughals, as opposed to what is propagated.
“Can we not identify at least 300 persons who made our country great? Every time we have been told that the Mughals were the first Empire, but that isn’t the case! There have been empires that have ruled this country for more than 200 years,” he said.
Shah also said that history should not be written on the basis of defeat or victory, rather on the basis of reality.
“History gives rise to many beliefs. But history cannot be written on the basis of defeat and victory. Efforts also have many dimensions. History should be written on the basis of reality. Should write on the basis of an evaluation of efforts.
“The independence movement was defined as Moderate versus extremist by a few people, while Aurobindo Ghosh termed it nationalist versus loyalist. We will have to remove history from Moderate vs extremist and will have to make it realistic,” he added.
