Editorial

There is an unmistakable pattern in the actions and inactions of the UPA government. Systematically the various ministries are being directed to detect and undo any ‘Hindu’ content in their programmes. The Culture Minister’s declaration last week on “not finding proof” of River Saraswati, the department’s silence on underwater excavations at Dwarka, the HRD Ministry’s fine-comb search of the programmes, scholarships and fellowships awarded during the non-communist, non-Congress time—they all fall in the UPA scheme. The idea is to negate anything Hindu in our so-called composite culture. The objective is to foist on us the burden of “goodness” of a thousand years of foreign rule. The result they expect from this web is the alienation of the Hindu ethos in the minds of the people, especially the students.

Once, a participant at the World History Congress remarked that he was amazed to see in India, academicians, historians, archaeologists and scientists taking political sides in their professional assignment. “A heritage in my land,” he said, “would belong to us all, whether we are democrats or republicans.” Ayodhya issue was at its peak then and he found it surprising that some scholars vehemently opposed discussion on it even before the evidences had been seen and academically evaluated. Now, the reigning terror in HRD Arjun Singh has ordered a revision and eventual cancellation of all work, which might have anything to do with India’s history and culture, linking it to the Hindu thought. The loyal fellow-travellers have found that the government had actually sponsored a project on ‘The Study of Indian Civilisation’ at the Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, Shimla. How horrible!

The Chinese and the Japanese are eager to develop the Buddhist sites in India as it would give them a cultural foothold here. There is a project being financed by the Chinese to renovate Nalanda as a Buddhist centre. More than anything else, Nalanda was a seat of learning, even before Buddha. The Japanese are keen on Sanchi. They are zeroing on many sties in Orissa for developing as Buddhist sites. One would be amazed to see the Archaeological Survey of India’s protected monuments list. It has such predominance of the Mughal and British period. We have a government in UPA, which is working overtime to outdo the colonial British historians and their loyal disciples in India, to prove how un-Hindu India is.