Principal Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Sanjeev Sanyal today questioned the accuracy of the history of Asean countries, saying it was written in the "interests of imperialist nations."
Sanyal was speaking at the ongoing Indo-Asean Youth summit here yesterday.
The five-day programme culminates on Saturday.
"At the time of colonialism, the history, culture and civilisation of Asean countries was written to serve the interests of imperialistic countries. It (history) is not completely correct," Sanyal said.
Youth representatives from countries in the Asean region like Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei, besides India are participating in the summit.
"Now there is a need for an interpretation (of history) by these countries linking themselves with their civilisation and culture," he said.
State women and child development minister Archana Chitnis, in her address, said Asean countries had lost (their) identity owing to expansion of colonialism.
"In terms of history, we had lost our identity owing to expansion of colonialism. It is a commendable journey that we restored our identity in a brief period of 70 years. There is a need for mutual efforts to express Asian dignity and to strengthen our national identity," Chitnis said.
The summit is being jointly organised by Ministry of External Affairs, Madhya Pradesh government and research organisation India Foundation.
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