The First War of Independence in 1857 would have been regarded as a revolt had it not been for Veer Savarkar, said Home Minister Amit Shah here on Thursday amid a row over the BJP suggesting that the Hindutva icon be given the Bharat Ratna.

Stressing the need to rewrite history from India’s point of view,  Shah credited Savarkar for calling the 1857 rebellion as India’s  first independence struggle.

Shah said had it not been for him, the rebellion of 1857 would  have become history and India would have seen it from the British  point of view.

 His remarks came two days after the Maharashtra BJP unit said in  its election manifesto that the party would ask the Centre to confer  the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, on Vinayak Damodar  Savarkar, popularly known as Veer Savarkar.

“Had it not been Veer Savarkar, the 1857 ‘kranti’ (revolt) would  not have become history and we would have been seeing it from the  British point of view,” the home minister said.

“It was Savarkar who gave the name First War of Independence to  the 1857 ‘kranti’, otherwise, our children would have known it as  a revolt,” he said, inaugurating a two-day international seminar  here on ‘Guptvanshak-Veer: Skandgupta Vikramaditya’ at Banaras Hindu  University (BHU).

A large number of historians, scholars and political thinkers from  India and abroad attended the seminar.

Referring to eminent historians in the audience and on the dais,  he said, “It is my request to all that there is a need to rewrite  the Indian history from India’s point of view but without blaming anyone.”

“It is our responsibility to write our history. How long are we  going to blame the British? We don’t have to dispute anyone, only  write what is truth and it will stand the test of time,” the Union  Home Minister said.

The Gupta period is called the golden period of indian history and Skandagupta is known for fighting against Hunas.

Shah also praised Madan Mohan Malaviya for founding a university  where “Hindu dharma and sanskriti” were propagated even after so many years.

He said Skandagupta Vikramaditya needed to be brought on top of  our history as he fought and won the war which even Rome lost against  the alien enemy.

 He re-formulated the revenue collection method, administration  and municipality, Shah said, adding that it was believed that the  Gupta ruler stayed at Ghazipur in this Poorvanchal region and worked  from here, he said.