New Delhi [India], June 23 (ANI): Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday unveiled ‘History That India Ignored’, a book authored by Asian News International (ANI) Chairman and veteran journalist Prem Prakash.
Speaking at the launch event, Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, highlighted a passage from the book’s preface regarding the Congress party’s early political stance. “Till 1930, the demand of the Congress Party was only for home rule under the status of a Dominion of the British Empire, with the British monarch appointing a Governor General,” he said.
“This is something which is going to trigger quite a few heads. In other words, however much the Congress Party might claim to be the torchbearer of India’s freedom struggle, its freedom struggle, if at all, on record began only after 1930,” Singh said.
The Union Minister said that Congress’s entire span leading up to independence was only 17 years, of which 4 years were the Second World War.
“The entire span leading up to independence is only 17 years, out of which 4 years are the Second World War. The high point was the Quit India Movement of 1942, which means that for only one decade, the Congress Party was apparently active as freedom fighters. But the drum beating has successfully carried on for all of us a century now, and that is where the book’s title finds its justification- ‘History That India Ignored’,” he said.
Singh also drew attention to the book’s focus on revolutionary freedom fighter Madan Lal Dhingra. “I think the most telling revelation, or a lesser-known fact, brought to light by the author Prakash ji is that of Madan Lal Dhingra, who killed Curzon Wyllie on July 1, 1909, in London,” he said.
Highlighting Dhingra’s defiance during his trial, Singh said, “During the trial, he refused to hire an advocate. He was sentenced to death, and when he was asked to make the last statement, he wrote: ‘No English Court has the authority to arrest me… If it is patriotic for an Englishman to fight against the German if they were to occupy his country, then it is much more justifiable and patriotic in my case to fight against the English.'”
He also criticised the Congress party for distancing itself from Dhingra. “The most important fact is that the Congress Party passes a resolution condemning the Dhingra Act, dissociating itself from Dhingra and Gandhi ji also unfortunately does… None of his family members visited him in prison till he was hanged, and did not even claim his body… There was only one person who had the courage and conviction to visit him in jail and meet him, and his name was Veer Savarkar,” Singh said.
Prem Prakash’s book revisits the untold stories from the Indian freedom struggle that are not commonly known but essential for the spirit of India. (ANI)
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