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Amit Shah Calls for Freeing India’s Knowledge from Colonial Lenses
Amit Shah spoke at an exhibition in Mumbai about India’s knowledge and history.
He said knowledge should not be controlled by any one ideology.
He argued that some studies of India used a colonial viewpoint instead of India’s own voice.
Shah said this could make people feel less confident about their country.
He asked the Asiatic Society of Mumbai to use its books, records, and collections for the public good.
He said that even if a library like Nalanda’s were destroyed, people could preserve knowledge through memory and tradition.
He also said nations must protect their history, language, values, and traditions.
Shah believes the Asiatic Society can help share Indian knowledge across the country.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah said knowledge should remain free from ideological constraints.
Shah argued that Indian intellectual traditions have often been studied through a colonial perspective.
He urged the Asiatic Society of Mumbai to use its collections for India, humanity, and the wider world.
Shah said destroying repositories such as Nalanda’s library could not erase knowledge preserved through memory and tradition.
He expressed confidence that the Asiatic Society would help spread India’s knowledge traditions nationwide.
- Who
- Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the Asiatic Society of Mumbai.
- What
- Shah called for Indian intellectual traditions to be freed from ideological and colonial interpretations and for the Asiatic Society’s collections to be used more widely.
- Where
- At the Asiatic Society of Mumbai in Mumbai, India.
- When
- Sunday; the article does not specify the date.
- Why
- Shah said knowledge should remain free and that historical and cultural collections should serve India, humanity, and the wider world.
Key facts
- Speaker
- Amit Shah, Union Home Minister
- Event
- Inauguration of the ‘Ganesh Gyanarthi’ exhibition
- Venue
- Asiatic Society of Mumbai
- Main argument
- True knowledge should not be held hostage by ideology.
- Colonial perspective
- Shah said Indian knowledge was often presented through a colonial framework rather than in India’s own voice.
- Historical example
- Shah referred to Nalanda’s library to illustrate that memory and tradition can preserve knowledge.
- Institutional role
- He said the Asiatic Society should help spread Indian knowledge traditions across the nation.
Quotes
Amit Shah
India’s Union Home Minister speaking at the Asiatic Society of Mumbai.
“True knowledge is never held hostage by an ideology. Knowledge itself is an ideology. If you bind it in any way, you change the very meaning of knowledge. Knowledge should be free and uninhibited, and its declaration should also be free and uninhibited.”
thestatesman.com
“One can burn the library of Nalanda, where smoke rose for months with such intensity, but the knowledge that resides in people’s minds as memory and tradition (Smriti and Shruti)—no one can destroy that knowledge.”
thestatesman.com
Sources
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