Interview: Prof Ganesh Devy on attempts to distort history and his battle to preserve it

Eminent linguist and historian Prof. Ganesh Devy spoke to The Federal during his recent visit to Chennai for a discussion on the book, 'Indians: histories of a civilisation'.

In this freewheeling chat, the historian talks about this book of which he is one of the editors; he also touches upon the central government's attempts at rewriting history and on the imposition of Hindi. Placing Tamil language's heritage in the global context, Prof Devy argues why the BJP government's approach towards language is dangerous and needs to be countered.

#interview #GaneshDevy #GNDevy #history #language #propaganda #misinformation #BJP #UnionGovt #hindutva #hindi #HindiImposition #tamil #books #bookstodon #histodon #linguistics #india

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eth-mRAzDr4

The plan is to depict a heroic regime: GN Devy on attempts to rewrite history

"If one speaks of federalism then one becomes anti-national, if one speaks of diversity then one becomes unpatriotic, if one speaks of a different opinion there is UAPA [Unlawful Activities Prevention Act], and if one tries to tell the truth then trolls are directed at that person. Since all of this is happening and the principles of justice, equality and freedom, inscribed in the Constitution, are being constricted, then there is good reason for any objective observer to ask if this is not a totalitarian regime."

#interview #GNDevy #history #democracy #totalitarianism #ReligiousFreedom #revisionism #mughals #GandhiAssassination #RSS #hindutva #islamophobia #nationalism #india

https://caravanmagazine.in/interview/g-n-devy-history-mughals-bjp-rss-hindi-nationalism