Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday stressed on the need to rewrite history from India’s point of view and said had it not been for Veer Savarkar, the first war of Independence in 1857 would have been seen from Britain’s point of view.

Shah’s remarks came two days after the Maharashtra BJP unit said in its election manifesto that the party will ask the Centre to confer Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, who is also known as Veer Savarkar.

“Had it not been Veer Savarkar, the 1857 ‘kranti’ (revolution) would not have become history and we would have been seeing it from the British point of view,” the Home Minister said.

“It was Savarkar who gave the name ‘First War of Independence’ to the 1857 ‘kranti’ (revolution), otherwise our children would have known it only as a revolt,” he said.

Amit Shah inaugurated a two-day international seminar in Varanasi on ‘Guptvanshak-Veer: Skandgupta Vikramaditya’ at the Banaras Hindu University.

Addressing a Seminar ‘’Guptvanshak-Veer: Skandagupta Vikramaditya” at Banaras Hindu University, Kashi. https://t.co/YQLzxeaChL

— Amit Shah (@AmitShah) October 17, 2019

Referring to eminent historians in the audience and on the dais, he said, “It is my request to all that there is a need to rewrite the Indian history from India’s point of view but without blaming anyone.”

“It is our responsibility to write our history. How long are we going to blame the British? We don’t have to dispute the facts, only write what the truth is… what is our point of view, and it will stand the test of time,” the Union Home Minister said.

Shah regretted that today’s generation was not aware of the contributions and valour of Skandgupta Vikramaditya, and many other great Indians, because of lack of documentation. While dwelling at length on the role and relevance of the ruler of Gupta Dynasty, Skandagupt Vikramaditya, he spoke on the political future of the nation and also took the opportunity to tout Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits abroad. “Respect for the country has increased under him. The world pays attention to our point of view. The world listens when our PM speaks on international developments,” Amit Shah said.

Meanwhile Congress has hit-out at the ruling party for endorsing Savarkar’s ideas since the Hindu extremist was named in the assassination plot of Mahatma Gandhi.

Congress leader Manish Tewari on Wednesday said that the party should straightaway confer Nathuram Godse with the highest civilian honour.

Why does NDA/BJP Government want to confer Bharath Ratna on Savarkar why not Godse? Former was only chargesheeted & later acquitted for assassination of Gandhi while latter was convicted & hanged.On his 150 th Anniv if you want to defile his memory then go the whole nine yards?

— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) October 17, 2019

“Savarkar was only accused of conspiring to assassinate Mahatma Gandhi, whereas Nathuram Godse carried out the assassination. This year we are celebrating the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, on this occasion, the NDA government should straightaway confer the Bharat Ratna to Godse instead of Savarkar,” said Tewari while addressing reporters in Nagpur.