Jadavpur: An attempt is on to wipe out the Mughal empire from India's history and replace it with fiction, alleged Marxist historian Irfan Habib.

"As far as I can understand they (the Union government) want the Mughal empire to be read out of Indian history," the historian said on Thursday, on the sidelines of the inaugural ceremony of the 78th Indian History Congress at Jadavpur University.

Habib's statement comes at a time Opposition parties are criticising the BJP and the RSS for their alleged attempts to "distort and rewrite" history to further their Hindutva agenda.

In one BJP-ruled state, the chapters on the Mughal reign have been drastically reduced in the revised history textbooks for schools, a Jadavpur University teacher said.

Habib, emeritus professor at Aligarh Muslim University, said without naming any political party: "They want Akbar and Tipu Sultan should not be glorified ... They also want that achievements should be attributed to only some particular heroes....

"One can't say Akbar was intolerant.... Or you can't say Tipu Sultan should not be glorified. So in that case they want to wipe out the entire section that deals with the Mughal empire.... This is not acceptable.... If you don't read about Akbar or Tipu Sultan you won't know a significant portion of the Indian history... As an historian I feel we should know more and more about our past."

The mandate of the Indian History Congress is to promote objectivity in writing history. "Historians participating in the congress will look for composite history covering every section of the population, tribes, minorities, untouchables and women. Our aim is not to write history to distort facts.... Our goal is to look for actual facts and then come out with best interpretations," Habib said.

He stressed the need for a comprehensive plan to protect the historical monuments in India. "Babri Masjid was protected under the Ancient Monument Act. Yet it was destroyed.... There is a need to protect each and every archaeological site," he said.

Earlier, delivering the welcome address, JU vice-chancellor Suranjan Das said a question had often been raised whether a historian could be objective or whether history could take anyone to complete truth. "In my opinion the choice of a theme of a historian may reflect the subjectivity of a historian... but subjectivity cannot be a licence to deliberate distortion or suppression of historical facts for sectarian purposes," he said.

Nearly 1,400 delegates from India are attending the congress, which will continue till Saturday.