The Modi Ministry seems to be undertaking a whole lot of unnecessary jobs because of its brute majority (“ >Files destroyed as per norms: Rajnath ,” July 15). One such example is the destruction of 1.5 lakh files by the Home Ministry. This is a very questionable move. Taking just a minute or less to identify the historical importance of a file seems astounding. Why is there no process of digitisation? It is only after this that a decision on whether to destroy the original file or not can be taken. As far as the historical importance of a file is concerned, even the signature affixed on a set of papers could be of more importance than the text. The Modi government has to exercise caution before embarking on such actions. Any move to rewrite the history of India is detrimental.
K.A. Solaman,
Alappuzha
When not in power, the BJP tries to distort history and when in power, the party tries to ‘destroy’ history. Why does it try to distort and destroy history? Files including reports on the RSS, the Quit India movement and the British (D.O. No 174-S dated Buldana, the 28th Nov. 1942) could have been destroyed to make the people forget the past. Those who are supposed to bring achche din for the country should remember that a people or a nation that forgets its past can’t move forward to a bright future. As Howard Zinn writes in A People’s History of the United States , “our future may be found in the past’s fugitive moments of compassion rather than in its solid centuries of warfare.”
Sukumaran C.V.,
Palakkad
