J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday inaugurated the third edition of Kashmir Literature Festival and asked writers to shape positive discourse through fiction, non-fiction and other creative forms and inspire people because writer’s craft lives not only in words, but in the pulse of people.
Sinha said that nobody should be allowed to distort history. “We must erase every trace of the colonial mindset & ensure that people abroad do not distort our history and present to serve their own narratives. It is the responsibility of writers to correct such errors and take the truth to global readers,” Sinha said while addressing a gathering.
He said it is the responsibility of writers to correct such errors and take the truth to global readers. “We must repeatedly remind the world that when the Vedas were composed some 6,000 years ago, India was the centre of the world’s economy, education, culture, and philosophy. For centuries, India was the engine of global civilization and culture. It laid the foundations for socio-economic advancement across the world through its gift in science, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine,” the LG said.
He said that there is a need to restore history and convey its true form to every section of society so that India’s narrative is properly shaped.
“We failed to communicate our priceless traditions, culture, knowledge, and sciences and that’s why many people claim that certain things came from other places or were introduced by the invaders. These assertions are baseless,” he said.
He said that foreign historians have, sometimes deliberately, omitted India’s ancient discoveries and achievements in science, literature, art, and architecture.
“When India stood at the peak of scientific achievement, many countries showed almost no mention of science. The earliest references to science, mathematics, and astronomy in Persia and other places appear only in the eighth century, and even those owe much to India. Europe’s first Renaissance in the 12th century drew on India’s treasury of knowledge, science, culture, and art. Centuries before any other countries discovered invention and innovations, India had already established itself as a scientific civilization,” he said.
