Social media is full of fake history WhatsApp forwards and Youtube videos. School textbooks too teach history which is simply untrue.
Dr Ruchika Sharma, a PhD in medieval history from Jawaharlal Nehru University, also uses Youtube and X to counter this misleading history. She says much of the fake history is about Hindutva’s favourite themes of trying to undermine the Aryan migration theory and villainising Muslim rulers especially Aurangzeb and Tipu Sultan.
She tells Sidharth Bhatia in an interview that research has shown that the exaggerated claims of the destruction of temples are untrue. Social media allows her to reach a younger audience and she says academic historians should explore this medium to counter all that fake history.
This article, first published on February 13, was republished on February 14.
