Indian government accused of rewriting history after edits to schoolbooks

[MenInG]

The Indian government has been accused of rewriting history to fit its Hindu nationalist agenda after school textbooks were edited to remove references to Mahatma Gandhi’s opposition to Hindu nationalism, as well as mention of a controversial religious riot in which the prime minister, Narendra Modi, was implicated.

Textbooks were also revised to remove chapters on the history of the Mughals, the Muslim rulers who controlled much of India between the 16th and 19th centuries.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which has pursued a Hindu nationalist agenda that has moved India away from its secular foundations, has been open about its desire to rewrite the country’s history and break away from what it describes as the “slave mentality” of colonial oppressors. “It is our responsibility to write our history,” said the home affairs minister, Amit Shah, in a 2019 speech.


Since the BJP came to power in 2014, there have been multiple amendments to textbooks, with critics alleging a “saffronisation” of the curriculum in schools and universities, a reference to the colour favoured by Hindu nationalists.

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In recent years, references to the Mughals, whom Hindu nationalists consider to be Muslim oppressors, have been repeatedly removed or amended, while references to the hardline Hindu nationalist ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as a “most celebrated freedom fighter” and a “great patriot” have been added.

The new editions of political science and history textbooks published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) drew controversy over the amendments, some of which were introduced quietly and without the usual public notifications.

Among the changes to the political science textbook for 17- and 18-year-olds was the removal of a reference to the dislike Hindu nationalists had for Gandhi, India’s famed freedom fighter, and how they made multiple attempts to assassinate him.

Gandhi was killed by a Hindu nationalist, Nathuram Godse, in 1948. Gandhi is still reviled by some Hindu nationalists for his views on Hindu-Muslim unity, and since the BJP came to power, there has been a growing reverence among hardliners for his killer.


The amended textbooks softened mention of Godse and also removed reference to the ban faced by the militant Hindu organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after Gandhi’s assassination.

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The BJP is seen as the political wing of the RSS and they remain ideologically aligned. Several BJP leaders, including Modi, were members of the RSS.

According to scrutiny of the textbooks by the Indian Express newspaper, which revealed the amendments, multiple references to the Gujarat riots have also been purged from textbooks by NCERT.

The riots, which took place in 2002, are a particularly sensitive topic for Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat at the time and was accused of being complicit in the violence, which involved brutal attacks on Muslim families and the deaths of more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. A BBC documentary exploring Modi’s role in the riots was recently banned by the government.

After the recent revisions, references to the riots have now gone from all social science textbooks for those aged between 11 and 18.

NCERT has also removed chapters relating to the Mughal courts from history books for 17- and 18-year-olds, under measures to “streamline” the curriculum and reduce the workload of students after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Historians and opposition politicians widely condemned the textbook revisions. “You can change the truth in books but you cannot change the history of the country,” said Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the opposition Congress party.

Aditya Mukherjee, a professor of contemporary Indian history at Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the removal of Mughal history from the textbook was an attempt to “weaponise” and “erase” history to suit the government’s political agenda. “Whenever we have witnessed erasure of a particular community from our history, it is usually followed by a genocide of the community,” Mukherjee told the news channel NDTV.

The NCERT chief, Dinesh Saklani, said the changes should not be “blown out of proportion” and all changes had been made by an “expert panel”.

The BJP’s national spokesperson, Gopal Krishna Agarwal, said it was “not rewriting history” but instead a way to rebalance the “biased approach” of some historians. The ministry of education did not respond to a request for comment.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...-rewriting-history-after-edits-to-schoolbooks

 

[Champ_Pal]

There is a lot of whitewashing of Muslim and Mongol conquest of India. As a student in India, we learned that Mughals were great, Akbar was awesome and poor Bahadursha Zafar was wrongly taken out by evil British. Atrocities that were committed by Mughals during their conquests were never taught. Its totally dominated by left wing view of Indian history.
Some sort of parity needs to be brought and there should be no sugar coating.

 

[Stewie]

There is a lot of whitewashing of Muslim and Mongol conquest of India. As a student in India, we learned that Mughals were great, Akbar was awesome and poor Bahadursha Zafar was wrongly taken out by evil British. Atrocities that were committed by Mughals during their conquests were never taught. Its totally dominated by left wing view of Indian history.
Some sort of parity needs to be brought and there should be no sugar coating.

When it comes to history, you dont want parity, you just want the truth. It should be based on facts and not treated like some sort of a competition.

Brits tryo to tell you they were benevolent masters and brought a lot to these lands and left a lot to these lands but we are now able to back up with evidence, they took more than they gave.. A LOT more.

Similarly, we know the conquerers from the west had very little to do with spreading the faith of the muslims, they were just conquerors looking for the spoils.

Obliterating the facts regarding the father of your nation is truly appalling though. The whole world seems to think of him as a saint and yet you guys are trying to make the guy who killed him into some sort of a hero.

 

[JaDed]

When it comes to history, you dont want parity, you just want the truth. It should be based on facts and not treated like some sort of a competition.

Brits tryo to tell you they were benevolent masters and brought a lot to these lands and left a lot to these lands but we are now able to back up with evidence, they took more than they gave.. A LOT more.

Similarly, we know the conquerers from the west had very little to do with spreading the faith of the muslims, they were just conquerors looking for the spoils.

Obliterating the facts regarding the father of your nation is truly appalling though. The whole world seems to think of him as a saint and yet you guys are trying to make the guy who killed him into some sort of a hero.

It wasn’t truth before as well ,when i tell ppl people about Jehangir’s # of wives , people don’t believe me.

Same with Akbar, it wasn’t factual before as well.

The education was so Mughal entrenched in my Tamil Nadu history books that I actually remember the Mughals era from Babar to Bahadur Shah, Humayun and Akbar were made to look heroic.

British were looked downupon in our history books, all Europeans were atleast till 2000s , not sure how it’s now.

 

[Stewie]

It wasn’t truth before as well ,when i tell ppl people about Jehangir’s # of wives , people don’t believe me.

Same with Akbar, it wasn’t factual before as well.

The education was so Mughal entrenched in my Tamil Nadu history books that I actually remember the Mughals era from Babar to Bahadur Shah, Humayun and Akbar were made to look heroic.

British were looked downupon in our history books, all Europeans were atleast till 2000s , not sure how it’s now.

I understand that and I alluded to it as well.

History should be based on facts and I am sure there were inaccuracies before and even now, just of different types.

Pakisani text books are the same. Its in stark contrast to what I experienced as a 17 year old college student in the US years ago. They first year history class was taught by a professor who openly admitted to the American subterfuge in acquired lands out west, stealing Texas and California, etc from Mexico, their role in the genocide of the american native tribes, etc. Pure unabashed facts without any sugar coating. Thats how history should be taught!

 

[cricketjoshila]

It wasn’t truth before as well ,when i tell ppl people about Jehangir’s # of wives , people don’t believe me.

Same with Akbar, it wasn’t factual before as well.

The education was so Mughal entrenched in my Tamil Nadu history books that I actually remember the Mughals era from Babar to Bahadur Shah, Humayun and Akbar were made to look heroic.

British were looked downupon in our history books, all Europeans were atleast till 2000s , not sure how it’s now.

The British part is still the same.

I hope rather than removing the Mughals they should have put out the real history of these tyrants. Their bigotry their tyranny their debauchery should be known.

 

[Romali_rotti]

I hope rather than removing the Mughals they should have put out the real history of these tyrants. Their bigotry their tyranny their debauchery should be known.

Yeah animals like Tipu Sultan and Aurangzeb should be brought out to the open and all new generation of kids must be shown who they really were.

 

[KB]

These changes indicate an instrumental use of history for very particular ideological ends. But a serious study of history is not about finding things in the past that make you feel good or more patriotic about yourself today. Nor is it a puerile exercise to lionise heroes and declaim villains. Nor is it a mere collection of facts learnt by rote.

Go back even just 50 years in a country you know, and you will be confronted by different beliefs, different assumptions, different ways of living. Go to another, less familiar, country or go back further into the past, and the challenge of understanding the dissimilar attitudes and mindsets is even steeper.

But this is what history as an academic discipline is about - trying to understand the past on its own terms and trying to understand people who thought and behaved differently to yourself, without thinking that they were intrinsically more good/bad than us.

In doing so - in a spirit of genuine curiosity - we have a better understanding of different perspectives and what it is and what is means to be human. Serious study of history should make you think, enable you to appreciate nuance and complexity, and leave you with an ability to ask difficult questions.

 

[RajBan]

I understand that and I alluded to it as well.

History should be based on facts and I am sure there were inaccuracies before and even now, just of different types.

Pakisani text books are the same. Its in stark contrast to what I experienced as a 17 year old college student in the US years ago. They first year history class was taught by a professor who openly admitted to the American subterfuge in acquired lands out west, stealing Texas and California, etc from Mexico, their role in the genocide of the american native tribes, etc. Pure unabashed facts without any sugar coating. Thats how history should be taught!

History is rarely on facts my friend, it is usually narrated from the powers that be standpoint. To get to an all round view true history researchers take multiple accounts into consideration to deduct a logical view in future and even then it may not be full truth but a mix of facts, perception and belief. More importantly number of such people who actually try to stay neutral during interpretation of this whole discourse are rarest commodity in Earth. I am not aware of a single mainstream historian in current day India who are able to break beyond their political belief and perception and stay true to the academic and logical side of the accounts. Infact sometime text book historians are better than the scholars as they simply put down bullets as opposed to mixing a heavy dose of belief in their narrative.

 

[gani999]

Yeah animals like Tipu Sultan and Aurangzeb should be brought out to the open and all new generation of kids must be shown who they really were.

It was never taught to us at school that Aurangzeb actually destroyed the Mughal Empire by waging pointless wars and depleting the royal treasury, leading to many smaller kingdoms declaring their independence. He was always portrayed as an unambitious, pious man who lived a simple life by selling prayer caps and hand written Korans.

Also I never knew while in school that there was a Kittur Rani Chennamma who fought the British and actually defeated them once, or a Rani Abbakka Chowta who defeated the Portuguese army four times. We were never taught about Lachit Borphukan, the Assamese general who sent Aurangzeb's army packing from Assam, or that the Marathas under Shivaji had an impressive navy that pirated and terrorised British ships.

It was always about some old Hindu kingdoms that fell, the Great Mughals who came after wards, and then the greater British who defeated the Mughals, all followed by the ever great Gandhi and Nehru who got India
independence.

Indian history has been taught in a biased and selective way by agenda driven leftist historians. It is time to bring the real truths out.

 

[RajBan]

It wasn’t truth before as well ,when i tell ppl people about Jehangir’s # of wives , people don’t believe me.

Same with Akbar, it wasn’t factual before as well.

The education was so Mughal entrenched in my Tamil Nadu history books that I actually remember the Mughals era from Babar to Bahadur Shah, Humayun and Akbar were made to look heroic.

British were looked downupon in our history books, all Europeans were atleast till 2000s , not sure how it’s now.

The other observation is that there has been a conscious attempt to pivot Indian history as Delhi based by British and Indian historians of 19th and 20th century with other parts playing as a second fiddle in their accounts. But the fact is that the Kings and Sultans of Delhi rarely had any major control for significant period southwards from Deccan. Be it Marathas on the Western India or the Deccan Sultans in Central India or the Southern Empires, they had their own reign , good or bad and largely independent of what happened in Delhi and within it's 500 km radius for millennium. Infact Delhi have negligible influence let alone domination in these areas but you will find more accounts on the courtesans of the Delhi Sultans than these rest of the political entities spread across the country. The so called historians by virtue of being ignorant, intentional or otherwise, indeed were able to market the Delhi project way better than their counterparts in the rest of the country.

 

[Stewie]

History is rarely on facts my friend, it is usually narrated from the powers that be standpoint. To get to an all round view true history researchers take multiple accounts into consideration to deduct a logical view in future and even then it may not be full truth but a mix of facts, perception and belief. More importantly number of such people who actually try to stay neutral during interpretation of this whole discourse are rarest commodity in Earth. I am not aware of a single mainstream historian in current day India who are able to break beyond their political belief and perception and stay true to the academic and logical side of the accounts. Infact sometime text book historians are better than the scholars as they simply put down bullets as opposed to mixing a heavy dose of belief in their narrative.

I think one can make a case for history or "popular" history leaving our certain facts or contexts but to the credit of the historians who have compiled the history as we know it today, have actually done their due diligence and most of it is based on facts because its not a work of a singular person. Like any acamdemic research, the generally accepted and respected history is a body of work of several individuals and it captures the facts, the lies are weeded out, and the truths are reinforced, and while one or two body of works may have political or otherwise bias associated with it, the actual history is refined through work by others over the years.

Perhaps, in the case of the history of the subcontinent, some of that does not apply but the fact remains that outside of our academic institutions, if one is eager to learn the truth and go look, one will find a wealth of information by other verified sources out there that shows them the real picture and THAT, my friend, is the true history, not that politically motivated garbage fed to us in schools.

 

[Zaz]

The bjp cannot rewrite history

The mughals ruled over the subcontinent for several generations

You cant whitewash them away no matter how hard they try

 

[RajBan]

I think one can make a case for history or "popular" history leaving our certain facts or contexts but to the credit of the historians who have compiled the history as we know it today, have actually done their due diligence and most of it is based on facts because its not a work of a singular person. Like any acamdemic research, the generally accepted and respected history is a body of work of several individuals and it captures the facts, the lies are weeded out, and the truths are reinforced, and while one or two body of works may have political or otherwise bias associated with it, the actual history is refined through work by others over the years.

Perhaps, in the case of the history of the subcontinent, some of that does not apply but the fact remains that outside of our academic institutions, if one is eager to learn the truth and go look, one will find a wealth of information by other verified sources out there that shows them the real picture and THAT, my friend, is the true history, not that politically motivated garbage fed to us in schools.

I am sure that those who have intent , they can do the due diligence and have their own opinion but then pretty often that's not part of the mainstream atleast in India. Sher Shah was the most astute administrator of the medieval North India but he gets least highlight in the popular discourse.

 

[Champ_Pal]

The bjp cannot rewrite history

The mughals ruled over the subcontinent for several generations

You cant whitewash them away no matter how hard they try

What Mughals actually did in India needs to be taught. Not erasing them from Text books.

There are big chapters on Mughals, but only passing references to many South Indian empires. Even Mauryan and Gupta periods are not discussed in detail like Mughal history. Mughals are all shown in positive light so as to preserve national integration.

Funnily, they always used to pound this thing in our brains that Brutish used cartridges made from Cow and Pig fat in their Guns and both Hindus and Muslims were enraged about it during 1857 revolt. I used to feel bad for Christians in our class.

 

[Local.Dada]

Funnily, they always used to pound this thing in our brains that Brutish used cartridges made from Cow and Pig fat in their Guns and both Hindus and Muslims were enraged about it during 1857 revolt. I used to feel bad for Christians in our class.

True. Also what I notice is some Pakistani and even some Indian/ subcontinent Muslims especially feel like they are rubbing it in by saying things like we love beef or a juicy steak to a Hindu/Indian person.

I think the mullahs, missionaries etc especially the lower strata or the trouble makers encourage these things that offend Hindus even more.

If someone is eating beef in front of you it may not be offensive but if some people from that sect indulge in activities like throwing cow remains in Hindu areas, aggressive taunting etc adds up to inflame the other side.

Anyway I think British followed a precedent. Muslim invaders like Ghazni, ghori armies etc used to hang cow carcass etc on temples, slaughter cows in front of the natives to prove dominance etc as per documented evidence from their own journals.

 

[jeetu]

There is a lot of whitewashing of Muslim and Mongol conquest of India. As a student in India, we learned that Mughals were great, Akbar was awesome and poor Bahadursha Zafar was wrongly taken out by evil British. Atrocities that were committed by Mughals during their conquests were never taught. Its totally dominated by left wing view of Indian history.
Some sort of parity needs to be brought and there should be no sugar coating.

I agree with that. In 80's history books , there use to be big Chapters on Mughal Kings , There were more details about post Aurangzeb's Mughal kings then entire history of Southern Kings. Also equally large section was devoted to British Viceroy's. History of Eastern states was entirely omitted. Surprisingly there was very little reference to Post Independence events.

 

[MenInG]

History is history.

What is the need to "re-write" history?

 

[jeetu]

History is history.

What is the need to "re-write" history?

In this internet age rewriting history won't work. What government at max can do is try to hide it. However it can't stop the curious ones who wants to know the truth.
Personally i never liked how history school books were written in 80's. They should have given reference to most figures without trying to expand on some historical figures. During my time trying to recite Dates involving every king/viceroy etc were headache. A school book doesn't need all the detailed information especially high school and below.

 

[CherylFogle]

I don't know much but as per my knowledge. BJP is erasing history.

 

[Shoaib Akhtar 100 MPH]

The British part is still the same.

I hope rather than removing the Mughals they should have put out the real history of these tyrants. Their bigotry their tyranny their debauchery should be known.

Not to forget how india continues to profiteer from the Taj Mahal they built.

 

[sweep_shot]

This seems like a retarded idea from them.

Then again, Indian government is pretty retarded.

 

[Romali_rotti]

Why are Pakistanis so worried about what is happening in India ? Pakistan is a diabolical mess, don't worry about what's happening in India lol, stop wasting time try and revive whatever you can for Pakistan...

Come on Ummah,,, fight for Pakistan. ****Pakistan Matters****

 

[Champ_Pal]

The actual edits happened in 1947. Leftie and commie historians have whitewashed all the atrocities committed by invaders. Its about time to write and teach the students what exactly happened.

 

[Kriketer]

What else would you expect when a country is lead by a facist religious Hindudva Terrorist. They live and breath Muslims and Pakistan

If facist radical Hindus continued like this then we will eventually see a new Pakistan carved out of India by the 250 million in India. I believe India still has a good sizeable population of sane people who don't want anything to do with these religious Hindu lunatics who are obsessed with Muslims and hellbent to bring communal unrest and violence. That Druv youtuber guy made a good video on this topic which was really nice to see that India still got sane people and not the extremist government or sanghi Hindudva terrorist sympathizers we see on Pakpassion

 

[Aang_The_last_airbender]

When it comes to history, you dont want parity, you just want the truth. It should be based on facts and not treated like some sort of a competition.

Brits tryo to tell you they were benevolent masters and brought a lot to these lands and left a lot to these lands but we are now able to back up with evidence, they took more than they gave.. A LOT more.

Similarly, we know the conquerers from the west had very little to do with spreading the faith of the muslims, they were just conquerors looking for the spoils.

Obliterating the facts regarding the father of your nation is truly appalling though. The whole world seems to think of him as a saint and yet you guys are trying to make the guy who killed him into some sort of a hero.

Since, you don't know what existed in the Indian books in the past, you hardly have any reference to make such expert judgement on how relevant the edits are.

Its appalling how people are stuck with prejudices and quick to judge when they lack even 1 cent of knowledge of the topic. Just open display of bigotry.

 

[Hikaru]

If facist radical Hindus continued like this then we will eventually see a new Pakistan carved out of India by the 250 million in India. I believe India still has a good sizeable population of sane people who don't want anything to do with these religious Hindu lunatics who are obsessed with Muslims and hellbent to bring communal unrest and violence. That Druv youtuber guy made a good video on this topic which was really nice to see that India still got sane people and not the extremist government or sanghi Hindudva terrorist sympathizers we see on Pakpassion

You can have Pakistan 2.0 after the old one is phased out. Stop being greedy.

 

[sweep_shot]

What else would you expect when a country is lead by a facist religious Hindudva Terrorist. They live and breath Muslims and Pakistan

If facist radical Hindus continued like this then we will eventually see a new Pakistan carved out of India by the 250 million in India. I believe India still has a good sizeable population of sane people who don't want anything to do with these religious Hindu lunatics who are obsessed with Muslims and hellbent to bring communal unrest and violence. That Druv youtuber guy made a good video on this topic which was really nice to see that India still got sane people and not the extremist government or sanghi Hindudva terrorist sympathizers we see on Pakpassion

Would love to see another partition of India.

A weakened/balkanized India is good for all countries in the region.

 

[Romali_rotti]

You can have Pakistan 2.0 after the old one is phased out. Stop being greedy.

Pakistan 2 may not be far away. Balochistan is close to breaking away it looks like.

 

[rpant_gabba]

What else would you expect when a country is lead by a facist religious Hindudva Terrorist. They live and breath Muslims and Pakistan

If facist radical Hindus continued like this then we will eventually see a new Pakistan carved out of India by the 250 million in India. I believe India still has a good sizeable population of sane people who don't want anything to do with these religious Hindu lunatics who are obsessed with Muslims and hellbent to bring communal unrest and violence. That Druv youtuber guy made a good video on this topic which was really nice to see that India still got sane people and not the extremist government or sanghi Hindudva terrorist sympathizers we see on Pakpassion

might a good experiment to see if 250million people scattered across India can be efficiently eliminated.

Sell their body parts to cover expenses.

I mean, who is going to interfere?

 

[Bhaijaan]

It’s called corrections.

History was rewritten by British and Lefists/Communists historians to suppress the dominant culture of this region.

BJP has a lot of work to do to correct the distorted history books.

 

[Romali_rotti]

There is no point renaming streets, buildings and changing the ways now.

Jinnah tried to save India by taking the all Muslims to Pakistan but the pseudo secular Indians allowed a big chunk of them to stay back, messing India up in the process.

Let's be real Muslim converts can't live with the majority Hindu population of India. Only reason why they are living with the Hindus of India is because they have no choice, if the converts were in the majority they would have annihilated the Hindu population..


Muslims are not the problem, all the problems were caused by the leftist pseudo secularists of India..