India: Modi govt to “correct” perspective of history and Indian culture

The BJP and the RSS are joining forces with writers and journalists to prepare a fresh line of defence for their ideology ahead of the 2019 general election.
As part of the initiative, intellectuals have been told to post on social media and publish booklets and articles to present the “correct” perspective of history and Indian culture, one that counters the narrative propounded by “Leftist historians”. Also on the radar are “untruths” peddled by the media.
To this end, a workshop was conducted last month at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA), a government-funded autonomous body that falls under the ministry of culture. It was organised under the ‘Bharat Vidya Prayojna’ – a project to provide scholarships to independent ideologues and artists and was attended by writers, union ministers as well as BJP leaders.
Brainstorming at the session, party sources said, threw up a host of ideas to peg the initiative on, including dispelling the “myth” that the BJP is “anti-Dalit”. In this regard, the plan of action is to “generate awareness about the fact that PM Narendra Modi believed in Ambedkar even before he became Gujarat chief minister”, and that it was no “political gimmick” as alleged by the opposition.
Other initiatives will include booklets on Indology as well as the changed work culture in the government under the NDA.
The speakers at the session included veteran journalist and IGNCA chairman Ram Bahadur Rai and union minister of state for information & broadcasting, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore. The 30-40 guests who attended included Rumi Malik, associate editor at Sahitya Akademi Delhi; blogger Harshvardhan Tripathi; Anil Pandey of the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation; and Shefali Vaidya, a columnist for Swarajya magazine.

SEE FULL REPORT AT: https://theprint.in/governance/in-olympics-for-writers-and-journalists-government-seeks-revision-of-leftist-history/55957/amp/