1857 was not revolt, but fight to save culture: RSS historian

Historian Satish Chandra Mittal, who is associated with RSS-backed history research body — All India Itihas Sankalan Yojana — wants Indian schools and colleges to change the way they are teaching 1857 revolt.

While delivering the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad Memorial lecture organised by the Indian Council for Historical Research (ICHR), a body under the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Thursday, Mittal said, "instead of calling it a revolt, we should rather say it was a fight to protect the Indian culture."

Mittal who had introduced 'Gurukul tradition' as a research programme in ICHR was also one of the six petitioners who demanded a ban on Wendy Doniger's book The Hindus: An Alternative History.

He was delivering a lecture on the topic of India's struggle for independence and the role of revolutionaries in it. During his address, he said the way our revolutionary leaders have been portrayed in history books, right from the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) books in schools to the books that are taught to youngsters in colleges, need to change. 

"From elementary level to masters in college, we call 1857 a revolution. How can we call it a revolution? It reflects a one-sided view when we call it that. Was it a revolt of the Blacks against White? Was it a revolt against feudal lords? It was not. It was a struggle to save one's culture and values. Most revolutionaries are motivated by spiritual and cultural factors. This is the reason that the struggle in 1857 happened. Thousands of people were hanged to death in Delhi, Lucknow and Allahabad during 1857, how is this a revolution?," said Mittal.

"I am appealing to the historians and teachers of the current times to teach this in the correct manner. They should see this as a challenge and try to teach the correct version of history to today's generation," he added.
Mittal also questioned the ideologies of the Congress and Communist parties and the idea of calling Bhagat Singh a communist and an atheist.

"Bhagat Singh's entire family was followers of Arya Samaj; he himself went to a college where Gayatri Mantra was chanted by students, and he chanted it too. How could he be a communist or an atheist? It is a conspiracy of the communists, so that they can get some kind of acceptance in India. Communist party does not have its origin in India; in fact, Lenin used to abuse Indians," said Mittal.