By Basant Kumar Mohanty
The Narendra Modi government has run into allegations of using institutions under its administrative control to glorify or defend controversial Hindutva icons.
The National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL), which functions under the education ministry, has published a book titled Veer Savarkar aur Takseem Hind ka Alamiya, which is an Urdu translation of the recent book Veer Savarkar: The Man Who Could Have Prevented Partition. The book defends the ideology of Hindu Mahasabha leader V.D. Savarkar.
Some historians and former officials of the council said the new narrative being built around Savarkar was contrary to the historical evidence that abounds on him.
On Thursday, the council launched the Urdu book at an event at the Prime Minister’s Museum. According to a media release, law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal said Savarkar was deeply sensitive to national unity and integrity and was therefore a strong opponent of the partition of India.
“Had his vision and planning been implemented, the country could have been saved from disintegration,” the release quoted Meghwal as saying.
The original book published in 2021 was co-authored by Uday Mahurkar and Chirayu Pandit. It has been translated into Urdu by Prof. Mazhar Asif, the vice-chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia.
According to the release, Mahurkar said at the event that the book presents “truthful and unbiased information” about Savarkar. The book attempts to “dispel all the misconceptions spread by a specific political ideology”.
This story was originally published in telegraphindia.com. Read the full story here.
