Bhubaneswar: In a move seen as a bid to rewrite modern Indian history, Union human resource development (HRD) minister Prakash Javadekar Monday said the 1817 Paika Rebellion or ‘Paika Bidroha’ would be named as the First War of Independence from the academic year 2018-19.
Addressing reporters here, Javadekar said, “The ‘Paika Bidroha’ of 1817 will find a place in history textbooks as ‘the First War of Independence’ against the British rule from the next academic session. This rebellion will be mentioned in history books.” Students should learn factual history of 1817, he added.
Attending the celebration of 200th year of Paika Rebellion here Sunday, the minister blamed historians for distorting history, saying, “Indian history is written from Britishers’ points of view which needs to be corrected.”
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had urged the Centre to declare 1817 rebellion as the First War of India’s Independence.
Historians, however, called for more research on the subject as there were various rebellions and group fights against British rule prior to Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.
“I welcome that the history of Orissa will find a place in history books. But, it should not be included in books without analyzing the event,” said historian Pritish Acharya.
“The minister should not detect that this must be included in history textbooks. If you include it in books without further research, it won’t fulfill the purpose of learning history,” Acharya said, adding the government should leave it to historians to decide.
Ashok Patnaik, a former head of department of history at Utkal University, who has done research on Paika Rebellion, said, “We have already published a book on the rebellion. Prior to this event, a lot of movements against the British rule had taken place, But, Paika Bidroha is far different from others and it was a mass movement.”
Even though, a lot of research must be done to make it clear that the Paika Rebellion was the first war against the British, Patnaik said, adding it should not be done in a hurry. We are working on it. Soon we will publish another book on the subject.
He said, historians from south India claim Travancore rebellion against the British in 1808 as the first revolt against the colonial rule. Paikas were peasant militia under the Gajapati rulers of Orissa who rendered military services to the king during the times of war. They rebelled against the British rule under the leadership of Baxi Jagandhu Bidyadhara as early as 1817.
Biswa Bhusan Mohapatra, OP
