Bid to change India's secular culture: CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram: The three-day Indian History Congress opening on the Kariavattom campus of the Kerala University on Wednesday will discuss the onslaught on the country’s secular culture by rightwing forces. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at a seminar held as a prelude on Tuesday said there was an attempt to rewrite history and bring India under religious and communalist disposition. Historian Romila Thapar said secularism was the centre of nationalism and democracy and the idea had a great role in building modern India. “There was an attempt to destroy it," she said.

Suresh Jnaneswaran, the local secretary of the IHC being hosted by the Kerala University, said it was happening at a juncture of sociological and political flux. The Congress would discuss how communalism made inroads into the bastion of secular culture and progressive thought across the country, negating the quintessence of India’s history and heritage. “Dalits are being marginalised and persecuted as never before; social division among religious groups have reached an inflammable point of no return driving the aggrieved underground only to be hunted and annihilated," he said.

“Spaces of liberal democratic thought and humaneness in political negotiations have shrunk dangerously. Callous acts of secrecy and surprise have brought the masses into economic discomfort reminiscent of warfare. The affluent as in all ages of history are tranquil and jubilant, but the misery of the penurious has quadrupled."

A panel of eminent scholars from all over the country will discuss Dalits, their challenges and politics while another panel will discuss problems confronting the country especially its rural and remote spaces. Influences that moulded the country and its history like the Dutch intervention include the topics of a panel of eminent Dutch historians. Prominent archaeologists on the Pattanam panel will discuss the heritage and history that evolves into the present.