ICHR chief Dr Y Sudershan Rao lauds Subramanian Swamy for fighting lonely battle for country's majority

NEW DELHI: Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) chief Dr Y Sudershan Rao has lauded Subramanian Swamy for the "lonely battle he has been fighting a in support of the majority of the country."

"We are about 80%, but he is fighting alone. He is fighting for India, its ancient culture and its existence," Rao said at a memorial lecture organized by the Sanskrit department of Delhi University on Thursday where he shared the stage with Swamy.

During his speech, Swamy repeated his controversial remarks that India is made of people who are Hindus and those who admit that their ancestors were Hindus. Calling for more research on ancient and medieval Indian history, Rao said that Council will revisit the Aryan migration theory to prove it’s a "construct of our colonial masters".

Although Rao’s views on the Aryan theory are well known this is perhaps the first time first he has said that the council for historical research headed by him will revisit the issue. He asked Sanskrit scholars to come forward and help counter west’s version of India’s past as they can best understand ancient Indian literature. "You are well placed to spot the inaccuracies," he said.

The memorial lecture was delivered by Rajiv Malhotra, founder of Infinity foundation and was also attended by ICHR chief YS Rao. Earlier during the event, Swamy advocated inclusion of more Sanskrit words in Hindi and called for a dictionary of common Sanskrit words found in all Indian languages. "To bring about national resurrection we have to focus on asmita (pride). To understand our ancient literature we have to know Sanskrit," he said.

"We have to make Sanskrit fashionable," he added.