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Sangh Parivar plans to rewrite Kerala history

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Sangh Parivar is planning to put out its version of Kerala history in what it says is a genuine bid to correct distortions made by mercenary writers of political parties, especially the ruling Marxists.

The main architect of the project is the Bharatiya Vichara Kendra director P Parameswaran, who is considered the chief ideologue of the Sangh Parivar in the state. The methodology involved in the study of the Sangh Parivar version of history would be worked out at a three-day workshop to be held in December this year.

The Kendra plans to publish several papers before the workshop in order to train the new generation of historians in collection, evaluation, correlation and presentation of facts. The Kendra wants to groom a team of historians to write history from the national point of view.

The plan was given a definite shape at a two-day history seminar on "Kerala and Freedom Struggle", organised by the Kendra in collaboration with the Indian History Research Council. The speakers at the seminar said that political parties in the state were getting history written to suit their political interests. They considered the Marxists as the main villains in this regard.

The seminar felt that academic institutions in the country were dominated by the Marxist school, making them a hot bed of ideological fascism. Non-Marxist historians were sidelined and subject to subtle smear campaigns.

In fact the provocation for a Sangh Parivar version of history was the attempt, albeit vain, made by the Marxist-led government last year to get the history of the freedom struggle in Kerala rewritten by renowned historians in consultation with their party bosses.

Noted historian P Sreedhara Menon, who was approached by the government to undertake the task, backtracked when he was asked to consult late E M S Nampoothiripad on evaluating certain movements, which he felt were either communal or caste rebellions. However, the party wanted them to be portrayed as part of the freedom struggle.

Though Menon completed the book on his own and got it published, the Marxist government succeeded in getting the Punnappra-Vayalar uprising and Malabar revolt recognised as part of the freedom struggle, thus ensuring pension to those who participated in it.

Menon, in his book, maintained that the Punnappara-Vayalar uprising could in no way be treated as part of the freedom struggle as it had taken place after Britain decided to give India freedom.

According to him, it was a peasant struggle against the feudal system. The Sangh Parivar has also been agitated over the attempt being made by certain Muslim organisations to glorify Tipu Sultan by observing this year as the bicentenary year of his 'martyrdom.'

They came out openly against the programmes saying that Tipu was an invader and he had persecuted Hindus and Christians in Kerala.

The Sangh Parivar is obviously irked by the attempt to undermine the Vaikom Satyagraha, the Kundara Declaration etc, which, it said, were genuine freedom movements.

Union minister for human resource development Dr Murali Manohar Joshi, who addressed the valedictory function of the seminar, said the Vaikom Satyagraha was part of India's freedom struggle like the Salt Satyagraha.

There has been a systematic conspiracy to undermine and destroy whatever is held sacred in the country. The people cannot be proud of the country unless its heroes, saints and classics are honoured, the Union minister said.

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