Undoubtedly India is an incredible nation with wide range of diverse cultures. But there are some popular myths that were created during the formation of our nation. These myths at times united people by bringing sense of oneness and patriotism. But today, in this globalized age and modernization if we look back, they just seem to be the world of lies in which we lived. Some of the facts lack rationality. Hence they cannot be legitimized. Some of them are as follows:
1. No, Hindi is not the national language of India.
Neither the Constitution nor any statutory body gives this status to Hindi. India is the land of diversity, so all the 22 Indian languages mentioned in Scheduled Eight of the Indian constitution can be considered as National Languages.
2. Hockey is not India's national sport.
Blame it on our school text books, we were always told that hockey is India’s national sport. Well, it’s not.. There’s no national sport of India. The reason for such conception was India beat USA 26-0 in the first game India ever played against them. Since then, it was called the national sport. I don't believe in myths but some myths keep the spirit high.
3. Indian Railways is not the "World's largest employer".
US's Department of Defense takes this Coveted Status with 3.2 Milllion Employees. Indian Railways comes at No 8. It is just that Indian railways is the largest corporation of employees in the world under a "single management".
4. Taj Mahal was never a Hindu temple.
Expert Committees setup by Government have debunked the myth that Taj Mahal was Tejo Mahalaya. We've gone with the Government's stand. Our intention is just to lay out the facts and the opinion of Expert Committee setup by the Government. Congress and BJP both governments have maintained the same stand, that there's no evidence for such assumption.
5. UNESCO has not declared Indian National Anthem as best in the world.
Yes, this actually became massive news in 2014 when a fake email apparently issued by UNESCO surfaced claiming ‘Jana Gana Mana’ the best national anthem in the world. Well, this was obviously a hoax which is bound to go down in the history books.
6. Varanasi is not the world's oldest city.
Varanasi is not the world’s oldest city and nor is it the world’s oldest ‘continuously inhabited city’. It is ‘one of the many oldest inhabited cities’ and there are many other cities that existed way before Varanasi.
7. India was not disqualified from 1950 FIFA world cup, because players wanted to play bare footed.
India made it to FIFA 1950 after four teams backed out from participating. The tour to Brazil was a costly affair and AIFF thought that India had no chance of winning against the likes of Italy. To escape embarrassment, AIFF blamed the FIFA for not accepting players who wanted to play barefoot. Infact India was Asia champion. Our team was like and was par or better than Argentina and Brazil etc. AIFF wanted to target Olympics and ignored world cup as it was not counted as biggest tournament at that time . And also finance was one more concern which held back India.
8. No, Mika Singh did not look back during the final leg of 400m race at 1960 Rome Olympics.
Many believe that our Flying Sikh looked back during the 400m race at the 1960 Rome Olympics but the truth is that he wasn’t even leading in the same race, let alone him looking back. He was fourth and came fourth overall in the race.
9. Mahatma Gandhi never said "An eye for an eye makes the world blind".
While pseudo-intellectuals go around advocating that these words were Gandhi’s very own, the fact is just the opposite. There’s no evidence in Gandhi’s recorded history of him saying this. It was actually said by Ben Kingsley in the movie Gandhi. Neither did he say 'hey ram' when he died.
10. India is not a poor country.
We just have economic inequality. Not all Indians are poor. There are people belonging to different economic classes having middle class predominantly.
1. No, Hindi is not the national language of India.
Neither the Constitution nor any statutory body gives this status to Hindi. India is the land of diversity, so all the 22 Indian languages mentioned in Scheduled Eight of the Indian constitution can be considered as National Languages.
2. Hockey is not India's national sport.
Blame it on our school text books, we were always told that hockey is India’s national sport. Well, it’s not.. There’s no national sport of India. The reason for such conception was India beat USA 26-0 in the first game India ever played against them. Since then, it was called the national sport. I don't believe in myths but some myths keep the spirit high.
3. Indian Railways is not the "World's largest employer".
US's Department of Defense takes this Coveted Status with 3.2 Milllion Employees. Indian Railways comes at No 8. It is just that Indian railways is the largest corporation of employees in the world under a "single management".
4. Taj Mahal was never a Hindu temple.
Expert Committees setup by Government have debunked the myth that Taj Mahal was Tejo Mahalaya. We've gone with the Government's stand. Our intention is just to lay out the facts and the opinion of Expert Committee setup by the Government. Congress and BJP both governments have maintained the same stand, that there's no evidence for such assumption.
5. UNESCO has not declared Indian National Anthem as best in the world.
Yes, this actually became massive news in 2014 when a fake email apparently issued by UNESCO surfaced claiming ‘Jana Gana Mana’ the best national anthem in the world. Well, this was obviously a hoax which is bound to go down in the history books.
6. Varanasi is not the world's oldest city.
Varanasi is not the world’s oldest city and nor is it the world’s oldest ‘continuously inhabited city’. It is ‘one of the many oldest inhabited cities’ and there are many other cities that existed way before Varanasi.
7. India was not disqualified from 1950 FIFA world cup, because players wanted to play bare footed.
India made it to FIFA 1950 after four teams backed out from participating. The tour to Brazil was a costly affair and AIFF thought that India had no chance of winning against the likes of Italy. To escape embarrassment, AIFF blamed the FIFA for not accepting players who wanted to play barefoot. Infact India was Asia champion. Our team was like and was par or better than Argentina and Brazil etc. AIFF wanted to target Olympics and ignored world cup as it was not counted as biggest tournament at that time . And also finance was one more concern which held back India.
8. No, Mika Singh did not look back during the final leg of 400m race at 1960 Rome Olympics.
Many believe that our Flying Sikh looked back during the 400m race at the 1960 Rome Olympics but the truth is that he wasn’t even leading in the same race, let alone him looking back. He was fourth and came fourth overall in the race.
9. Mahatma Gandhi never said "An eye for an eye makes the world blind".
While pseudo-intellectuals go around advocating that these words were Gandhi’s very own, the fact is just the opposite. There’s no evidence in Gandhi’s recorded history of him saying this. It was actually said by Ben Kingsley in the movie Gandhi. Neither did he say 'hey ram' when he died.
10. India is not a poor country.
We just have economic inequality. Not all Indians are poor. There are people belonging to different economic classes having middle class predominantly.
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