Modi releases a 'Dictionary of Martyrs'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said efforts to weigh history on the scale of ideology lead to the distortion of history, stressing that history should be accepted as it is.

Unveiling a first-ever dictionary on martyrs of the Indian freedom struggle, he also said that a nation, which does not honour and remember its people who created history or were an important part of the history, “often” does not have a secure future.

“There has been efforts to weigh history on the scale of ideology and these efforts sometimes lead to the distortion of the history. Those, who cannot create history, sometimes want to paint history in their own colours because they do not have the capacity to create history. I believe history should be accepted as history,” he said.

The five-volume dictionary "Dictionary of Martyrs" contains an account of the martyrs from India's First War of Independence in 1857, to India's Independence in 1947.

Culture Ministry had commissioned the project for compilation of a dictionary of martyr of India's freedom struggle to the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the uprising of 1857. During the Modi regime, the ICHR has faced accusations of making efforts to bring changes in the history of the country toeing the line of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The dictionary includes the martyrs of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the noncooperation movement, the Quit India Movement, and the soldiers Indian National Army soldiers, who attained martyrdom during freedom struggle, Prime Minister said.

“In this dictionary a martyr has been defined as a person who died or who was killed in action or in detention, or was awarded capital punishment while participating in the national movement for emancipation of India,” the Culture ministry said in a statement.

Prime Minister asked the Culture Ministry to find ways to take the five volumes of the dictionary to the youth.
Eom/