Time machine inventors trying to go back to rewrite history: Ansari

In a jibe at the present regime for trying to appropriate historical figures for its advantage, former Vice President Hamid Ansari on Sunday said that a "new set of inventors" were trying to make a time machine in order to go back in time and change history.

However, Ansari stressed, that could not be done because efforts made to change history anywhere in the world have not succeeded.

"Years ago, a book called 'The Time Machine' was written by H.G. Wells. The idea behind the book was that there would be a form of technology by which you could go back to visit what has happened in the past. The book was a great success," Ansari said in his remarks at the release of book "Jawaharlal Nehru: An Illustrated Biography" compiled by A. Gopanna.

"But today I notice another set of inventors -- not writers, but inventors -- who are trying to create a time machine by which you can go back in history and rewrite it," Ansari said at an event here that was attended by former President Pranab Mukherjee and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh among others.

"Now, such an effort is not going to succeed. History is history. You can draw lessons from it, you can draw inspiration from it or you may simple read it. But history cannot be changed. And the efforts that are being made -- perhaps similar efforts have been made elsewhere also -- they have all failed," he said.

Nehru, the first and longest serving Prime Minister of India, passed away on May 27, 1964.

In his remarks, Mukherjee said that the history of modern India was closely associated with a few personalities and Nehru was one of them.

Paying homage to the country's first Prime Minister's farsightedness and his commitment to democracy, he said: "India would have gone in the way in which many other newly liberated countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America went, but for his (Nehru's) commitment to democracy and also to build up the institutions which are required to support the system.

"And if you look at it, he built all the necessary institutions to support the democratic structure of India. Many a time, it appeared that perhaps it was all not necessary. But with the passage of time, we find that each and every institution created, nurtured and nursed by him has provided the necessary support to this huge democratic structure o administer one billion-plus people."

The former President also appreciated Nehru's insistence on having and tolerating views different from "one person, one party or one group".

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been critical of the Nehru-Gandhi family and its leaders prefer to mention its own ideologues like V.D. Savarkar, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Shyama Prasad Mookerjee along with Congress stalwarts like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and others in the context of modern Indian history.