The renaming of Mughalsarai railway station after RSS ideologue Deen Dayal Upadhyaya or the attempts to “cast out Nehru” reflect the absence of “heroes” among saffron ranks, historian Irfan Habib said.

Delivering a lecture on “70 years of Freedom” here, Habib said the Indian freedom movement owes much to “new values and ideals”.

“They might have put Deen Dayal Upadhaya’s name here and there, they might try to cast out (Jawaharlal) Nehru’s name as far as they can, but the fact is that they have no hero out of their own ranks for the national struggle,” he said.

The omission of first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s name in the speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Lok Sabha on the historic Quit India movement attracted criticism from the Congress.

The party had also termed as “unfortunate” President Ramnath Kovind’s inaugural speech, where Nehru did not find any mention.

“Indian national movement owes much to new values and ideas that had nothing to do with any religion or our past culture. This historical fact is particularly important when we are faced with the recent insistence that all wisdoms have been obtained by Indians from in ancient times,” he said.

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