BJP desperate to rewrite history, says Congress

New Delhi: Mr Modi lamented that post Independence, India’s policies were based on the British system as “things were seen through British glasses”.

“Policies, including those related to education, had to suffer because of this,” he said, adding that, “Subhash babu always took pride in India’s history and our rich values. He taught us that not everything must be seen from a non-Indian prism.”

He said in the later decades of independent India if the country had got the guidance of personalities like Subhash babu and Sardar Patel, “the conditions would vary greatly”. Mr Modi said that his government was changing that now.

“It is unfair to glorify one family, the contribution of several other great leaders was deliberately forgotten. It is high time more Indians knew about the historic role of stalwarts Sardar Patel, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose,” he said.

The Congress on its part dismissed Mr Modi’s claim that they, while in power for several years, neglected the contribution of freedom fighters like Bose. 

Accusing the BJP-led Centre of using every “auspicious” occasion as a “political tool”, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi Sunday said the saffron party was “desperate to rewrite history”. Dr Singhvi further added that in August 1947, the first PM of India Jawaharlal Nehru raised the Indian national flag above Lahori Gate.