The recently revised social science textbook of class 8 published by the NCERT has sparked controversy in the country over its handling of the Muslim rulers and Mughal era. With people across the educational, academic, research and oriental fraternity calling it an attempt to poison and polarise the generations. Rewriting the history is one of the prime agendas of the RSS-backed BJP that has time again reiterated to saffronise education once it’s voted to power. For the BJP, Mughals have had been a favourite topic which it uses cunningly to polarise the masses and further its divisive agenda. Ever since the far-right wing party came to power, it has relentlessly attempted to portray Muslim rulers as invaders, plunderers and destructors of temples and the ones who were hell bent to spill blood of infidels. From making historically incorrect films to continuously and consistently poisoning the minds of the masses through fake WhatsApp and Facebook forwards, the BJP is now using education to spread venom in the hearts of young generations.
The consequences of such a misadventure will have profound and prolong impact on the very foundations of the idea of India. At the onset the books deeply impact innocent minds and hearts of children, especially Muslims who would be at the receiving end of the biased rewriting of history. In effect the Muslim children would be subjected to public insult, physical abuse, bullying and intimidation at the hands of their peers and teachers alike, thus affecting their physical, mental and psychological upbringing. Such things are feared to spread stress, anxiety, fear and other psychological problems among students irrespective of religion or caste. As we have seen in the recent past, several incidents of religious vendetta against Muslim men, women, young and old and innocent children took place.
Such a non-objective move would equip teachers and peers with a tool to target and single out Muslim students, thereby giving them opportunities to wet out their hatred, anger, anxiety and animosity against them only because of unfair and biased handling of history. As a result, the children would be pushed in the darkness of hatred and religious intolerance. In the long run this would definitely have an adverse and negative impact on the future of our country as a whole. While looking from the Muslim perspective, the biased and non-objective move of the NCERT would make them feel guilty and accountable for the ‘wrong-doings’ made by the Muslim rulers.
The recent tampering with of the history by the NCERT raises questions over its integrity, objectivity and impartiality. Upon looking at the kind of approach the NCERT has shown in dealing with Muslim rulers and Mughal era clearly underlines the fact that the NCERT has compromised the principles of objectivity, fair-play and impartiality. It would not be wrong to say that the NCERT has become a puppet of the government. It is being used as a tool to further Islamophobic outlook, polarise the innocent generations in order to fulfil the fascist agenda. In the recent past the attempts to distort history through films were brutally rejected by the masses. It seems as if the BJP has not learnt a lesson from it; that is why now it is meddling with history textbooks. But until there are peace and communal harmony loving people, such attempts to rewrite history from a biased perspective would never succeed and that sooner or later this attempt would also be brought down to a grand failure.
It is appalling to note that an institution whose sole duty was to impart unbiased, non-partisan and objective content; to nurture young generation, prepare them to serve the cause of nation building, uphold the democratic values is actually indulging in destruction of the very foundation of fraternity, brotherhood, unity and integrity of the nation. The recently revised book is against the guidelines of the NEP 2020 that has clearly mentioned in its draft under ‘Principles of this Policy’ that “The fundamental principles that will guide both the education system at large… ethics and human & Constitutional values like empathy, respect for others, cleanliness, courtesy, democratic spirit, spirit of service, respect for public property, scientific temper, liberty, responsibility, pluralism, equality, and justice.”
Similarly, in the National Curriculum Framework School Education (NCFSE), under the section ‘Values and Dispositions’, the NCF boldly boasts the excerpts from the NEP which reads: The purpose of the education system is to develop good human beings capable of rational thought and action, possessing compassion and empathy, courage and resilience, scientific temper and creative imagination, with sound ethical moorings and values. It aims at producing engaged, productive, and contributing citizens for building an equitable, inclusive, and plural society as envisaged by our Constitution. [NEP 2020, Principles of this Policy]
Now looking at the policy guidelines, it is hard to believe the NCERT’s contention that the textbook is according to NEP. This is the biggest lie of the NCERT and clear violation of NEP and NCFSE 2020. Therefore, we strongly condemn such a communally biased reading of history and demand immediate revision of the textbook following the guidelines of NEP 2020 and principles of objectivity, fairlyplay and impartiality. Similarly, we demand that in the future as well not only the NCERT but also the SCERTs not to indulge in such communal activity, stick to their foundational principles, impart impartial and unbiased education so that our country becomes a global knowledge superpower.