In a new intervention by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) in its textbooks, it allegedly decided to eliminate mentions of the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya, the killings of Muslims in Gujarat riots, and Hindutva, as well as adjusting the reference to Manipur's integration with India.
The changes have been made in Political Science textbooks of Classes XI and XII, besides others.
These revisionary measures as stated by NCERT are adjustments and are not associated with the development of new books under the New Curriculum Framework (NCF). The officials further refrained from commenting on the omitted topics, reported PTI.
What were the changes initiated?
Change 1: In chapter 8, Recent Developments in Indian Politics, references to the "Ayodhya demolition" have been dropped.
"What is the legacy of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and the Ayodhya demolition for the nature of political mobilisation?" has been changed to "What is the legacy of the Ram Janmabhoomi movement?"
Reason: The officials stated that references to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement have been tweaked "as per the latest development in politics".
Change 2: References to the Babri Masjid and the politics of Hindutva were dropped.
The earlier paragraph read: "Fourth, a number of events culminated in the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya (known as Babri Masjid) in December 1992. This event symbolised and triggered various changes in the politics of the country and intensified debates about the nature of Indian nationalism and secularism. These developments are associated with the rise of the BJP and the politics of 'Hindutva'."
This was changed to: "Fourth, the centuries old legal and political dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya started influencing the politics of India which gave birth to various political changes. The Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Movement, becoming the central issue, transformed the direction of the discourse on secularism and democracy. These changes culminated in the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya following the decision of the constitutional bench of the Supreme Court (which was announced on November 9, 2019)."
Change 3: Chapter 8 on Secularism in the Class XI textbook which mentioned "More than 1,000 persons, mostly Muslims, were massacred during the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002," was changed to "More than 1,000 persons were killed during the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002."
Reason: As per PTI, the NCERT on the change said, "In any riots, people across communities suffer. It cannot be just one community."
Change 4: On Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the older version in textbooks stated, "India claims that this area is under illegal occupation. Pakistan describes this area as Azad Pakistan."
The changed version mentions, "However, it is the Indian territory which is under illegal occupation of Pakistan and called as Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK)."
Reason: The NCERT officials said that "change that has been introduced is in complete concurrence with the latest position of the Govt of India in regard to Jammu and Kashmir"."
Change 5: On Manipur, the earlier textbook stated, "The Government of India succeeded in pressurising the Maharaja into signing a Merger Agreement in September 1949, without consulting the popularly elected Legislative Assembly of Manipur. This caused a lot of anger and resentment in Manipur, the repercussions of which are still being felt."
The changed version says, "The Government of India succeeded in persuading the Maharaja into signing a Merger Agreement in September 1949."
Change 6: In chapter 5 titled Democratic Rights, a reference to the Gujarat riots was replaced with a news collage.
The earlier version was "Do you notice references to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in the news collage on this Page? These references reflect the growing awareness of human rights and struggles for human dignity. Many cases of human rights violations in diverse fields, for instance, Gujarat riots, are being brought to the public notice from across India."
This was changed to "Many cases of human rights violations in diverse fields are being brought to the public notice from across India."
