Pune, 19th April 2023
National Council of Educational and Research Training declared that chapters on the Mughal Empire would be eliminated from the class XII textbooks. The move comes in as the government plans to “rationalise” the course being taught in schools affiliated with the Central Board Of Secondary Education (C.B.S.E). The move is made to erase the Mughal history and has been subject to great criticism from stalwarts of the education field. This “Rationalisation Process” sparked a meme fest which was a light way to cover the grave move of the Bhartiya Janta Party triggering a cultural exodus of the Mughal Empire.
The Uttar Pradesh government was the first to announce it would adopt the new educational policy. The new books of class 12th history are going to be circulated with stories of Mughal courts being removed from the next academic session. The step to “Rationalise the Syllabus” by the CBSE was taken stating “Irrelevant” and “Overlapping” chapters will be removed from the syllabus. It was evident that the only “Irrelevant” part of history was the Muslim rulers.
Some state boards also use the NCERT textbooks besides CBSE. Most of these changes were introduced in the year 2022 when the syllabus was rationalised. Taking a close eye on the chapters removed, the class XI textbook bid adieu to the chapters of “Central Islamic Lands”, “Confrontation Of Cultures” and “The Industrial Revolution”. The class 12th Political Science textbooks said sayonara to “Rise Of Popular Movements” and “Era Of One Party Dominance.”
What caught the eyes of vigilant citizens was far more serious and important. Four key moments of Indian history have been effaced from the textbooks of the youth. These four moments are as follows:-
1. Gandhi’s Pursuit Of Hindu-Muslim Unity
2. Banning Of The RSS
3. Any Reference To Gujarat Riots
4. Any Protests Turning Into Social Movements
The action was brutally trolled on social media with users suggesting that Indian history should start Post 2014 with the reign of Narendra Modi. The Twitterati is flooded with various memes from historic films like Jodha Akbar. One of the memes which grabbed a lot of eyes was this – “Utho Anar Kali, Ab Hum Out Of Syllabus Hai”
With all fun and games kept aside, we as India are heading towards a dangerous era where our new generation would not be aware of the oppression done by its past rulers. Students will not be informed about the infamous Gujarat Riots. The young minds would not learn about the reasons why RSS was banished. It would seem as if India’s modern history had begun just with the coming of “Supreme Leader” Narendra Modi in 2014. NCERT Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani stated that the chapters in Mughals have not been dropped and it is a “lie”. Saklani stated "They recommended that if this chapter is dropped, it won't affect the knowledge of the children and an unnecessary burden can be removed...The debate is unnecessary. Those who don't know can check the textbooks."
Asaduddin Owaisi commented," On one side, the Modi government is erasing the Mughals from NCERT syllabus, while on the other side, China, with whom PM Modi was shaking hands at the G20 Indonesia meeting, is erasing our present." However, the move was praised by the BJP fraternity by claiming that the Mughal “rulers” are actually ‘thieves’. Kapil Mishra from the BJP stated that this initiative will bring light to the “truth”.
Avinash Pandey, General Secretary In-Charge for Jharkhand from the Congress lashed out at the government stating that the BJP is trying to attempt to alter the nation’s history by their decision to drop the chapters regarding Mughal rulers. He further claimed that democracy is under threat in the nation. Kapil Saibal, Rajya Sabha took to Twitter and attacked the government in which he mocks the BJP saying that "consistent with Modi ji's Bharat, modern Indian history should start from 2014."
Dr V. Lenin Kumar, the program director of the School of Government at MIT World Peace University stated “History can be interpreted in many ways. It can be critiqued and also be given a different perspective but it cannot be removed. Learning from history leads us to unlearn many things. Removing Mughals from textbooks will not resolve the political and social questions of our time. Critical study of Mughal history is the way forward to course correction.”
With elections in just about a year, the BJP has come out with a clear policy of eradicating Muslim heritage as well as culture. The renaming of cities in Uttar Pradesh followed by the removal of Mughal chapters in the school curriculum has made it evident that the government is waging a war on Muslim minorities and aim to remove their mark from the history of India.
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