78 SOCIAL SCIENTIST amount to diluting rational discourse in education. The attack on rational discourse should not be seen as a matter of concern only for the intelligentsia. In its implications this attack impinges on the people's march towards freedom. He gave the example of Kerala where an enlargement of the sphere of rational discourse in the educational-literacy movements has contributed significantly to the erosion of age old caste practices as part of the anti-imperialist struggle. Calling it a process of our "Long revolution9, he emphasised that the enlargement of the social and political rights of the ordinary people would be unimaginable without "the remarkable revolution in thought that has rejected the inegalitarianism of tradition, and the irrationalism of inherited orthodoxy." Today the Sangh Parivar is reversing this entire process to usher in a veritable "counter revolution" through its deliberate revival of ideas that had gone into the formation of traditional orthodoxy and its blatant rejection of the secular egalitarian outlook. The implication of his presentation was that just as communalism is integral to counter revolution, the strengthening of the secular, rational discourse is essential to moving forward towards greater democracy and rights of the majority of Indian people. Professor Irfan Habib, eminent historian and former Chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research, elaborated on this theme in his presentation on the rewriting of history by the Sangh Parivar. He emphasised that what the central government agencies and the Sangh Parivar are now projecting as the history of India is not what a professional historian of any persuasion would regard as legitimate. They are resorting to manufacturing evidence, disregarding evidence, going out of their way to make assertions that have no basis in reality. Distortion of history is a crucial weapon of ideology, he pointed out. The present regime is not only inducting communalism into Indian history, it is also trying to totally mislead. "In fact what is going on is similar to what the Nazis did for Germany. The Nazis had said that if you claim everything for Germany, it is proof of patriotism. The RSS is making claims as a certificate of patriotism." There is a lot of state sponsored research of a particular kind. K.N.Dixit of the RSS has been given Rs 20 lakhs to work on the Saraswati civilization. Others have been given Rs 11 lakhs to show the insignificance of the Dravidians. The BJP government is officially introducing the notion that nationalists are those who fought the Muslims and not those who fought the British. Dr. Rajput of NCERT has said that temple destruction by Muslims has to be put in text