History helps us learn from past mistakes: Ansari

Addressing a gathering of the country’s leading historians, Ansari said, “Is there a more practical relevance of history? To my mind, it helps us know and, hopefully, learn from the mistakes of the past. Those mistakes relate to frailties in judgement leading to mistakes in statecraft and governance.”

Ansari also drew the attention of historians to areas where further research is required. Talking about a section of the IHC which is focused on countries other than India, he said, “I wonder if this could read ‘countries and regions other than India’. My purpose in suggesting this is to explore the fascinating maritime history that unavoidably emanates from the 7,517 kilometres of coastline and the Exclusive Economic Zone that we have on the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal and in relation to the Indian Ocean as a whole.”

“Another region deserving attention is beyond the sub-continent in north and northwest. The situation of historical scholarship relating to Afghanistan and Central Asian republics is no better,” he added.

On the craft of history, Ansari underlined the importance of methodology in history writing. He said, “Efforts to curb ‘intellectual efflorescence’ through official dicta can only be viewed as undesirable. Furthermore, contestations over the historical past need civility of discourse to ensure that it does not cross the imperatives of ensuring social peace and societal cohesion.”

The first day of the IHC saw several out of over 800 papers being presented in the presence of leading historians Romila Thapar, B D Chattopadhyaya, Sabyasachi Bhattacharya and Irfan Habib, among others.