Sengol docu based on govt records: Thakur
Thakur said the sources referred for reconstructing the history and significance of Sengol included a policy note of 2021-22 of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment, Tamil Nadu.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur
NEW DELHI: The documentary on the history of the Sengol, which the government claimed signified the transfer of power from the British to Independent India, relied on government records, institutional memory and contemporaneous media reports, Union Minister Anurag Thakur told Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
In a written reply, the Information and Broadcasting Minister said the documentary was produced by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and the cost of production was part of the overall assignment.
Thakur said the sources referred for reconstructing the history and significance of Sengol included a policy note of 2021-22 of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment, Tamil Nadu.
He said the documentary makers also relied on the Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam records and its institutional memory; the recollection by Kanchi Paramacharya, (quoted - Thevaram Doctor R Subramaniam; Ponnar Menianudan Ponnana Naatkal, Vol - 3: Pages 120-121); Interview of Masilamani, the Secretary of 20th, 21st and 22nd Mahasannidhanam of the Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam. They also relied on the Vummidi family’s institutional memory.
The documentary makers also referred to contemporaneous media coverage, including articles in The Hindu dated 11.08.1947; The Indian Express (13. 08.1947); The Hindustan Times (13.08.1947); The Statesman (15.08. 1947) and the TIME Magazine August 1947. They also referred coverage in Tamil and English media such as Dinamalar dated 08.03.2019 & 04.05.2020; Junior Vikatan dated 13.04.2019; Deiva Murasu and Thuglaq magazine article dated 05.05.2021.
Also, books such as Betrayal of India by D F Karaka; Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, Writings and Speeches. Vol. I. ; Inequality in India: Caste and Hindu Social Order, Transience; Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins. Other books include The Aftermath of Partition in South Asia by Tai Yong Tan and Gyanesh Kudaisya; The Indian Ideology by Perry Anderson; Kolaru Pathigam by Saktiyavel Murugunar and the ‘Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan’ by Yasmin Khan.
