NCERT texts drop references to Babri Masjid, Gujarat riots, Hindutva

Dropping references to the demolition of the Babri Masjid, the killing of Muslims in the 2002 Gujarat riots and Hindutva, and tweaking the reference to Manipur's merger with India, are among the latest set of revisions in school textbooks made public by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).

A reference to the abrogation of Article 370, replacing the term 'Azad Pakistan' with Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK), and revising a paragraph defining the Left as those who prefer "state regulation over free competition" are also among the changes.

While NCERT did not comment on the topics being dropped, officials said the tweaks are part of a routine update, not linked to the development of new books as per the New Curriculum Framework (NCF). The changes have been made in Political Science and Social Science textbooks of classes 11 and 12, besides others.

According to a document detailing the changes prepared by the NCERT's curriculum drafting committee, the reference to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement has been tweaked "as per latest developments in politics".

Chapter 8 on Secularism in the class 11 textbook earlier said, "More than 1,000 persons, mostly Muslims, were massacred during the post Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002."

That has been changed to “more than 1,000 persons were killed during the post Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002”. The NCERT's rationale behind the change is “in any riots, people across communities suffer. It cannot be just one community”.

In chapter 7 of the Political Science textbook of class 12 (Politics in India since Independence), the council has revised a paragraph to include a reference to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded special status to the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The earlier paragraph read, "While most of the states have equal powers, there are special provisions for some states like J&K and the states in the North-East". The revised version adds a line to the paragraph saying, "However, Article 370 that contains special provisions for J&K was abrogated in August 2019."

On Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the earlier textbook stated, "India claims that this area is under illegal occupation. Pakistan describes this area as Azad Pakistan." The changed version says, "However, it is the Indian territory which is under illegal occupation of Pakistan and called as Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK)."

The NCERT's rationale behind the alteration is that the "change that has been introduced is in complete concurrence with the latest position of the Govt of India in regard to Jammu and Kashmir".

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 simply says, "The Government of India succeeded in persuading the Maharaja into signing a Merger Agreement in September 1949."

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?".

The same chapter has also dropped references to the Babri Masjid and the politics of Hindutva. 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)."

In chapter 5 (Democratic Rights), a reference to the Gujarat riots has been dropped from the caption of a news collage. The earlier version read, “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.”

In chapter 3 of the textbook, the council revised the definition of the Left in a box item. The existing version states that the “Left often refers to those who are in favour of the poor, downtrodden sections and support government policies for the benefit of these sections”.

The revised version says, “Left often refers to those who are in favour of state control of the economy and prefers (sic) state regulation over free competition.”

"Both left and right are defined at an operational level,” the rationale given by NCERT said.

The NCERT had last week communicated to CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) schools that new textbooks have been developed for classes 3 and 6 while the textbooks for other classes as per NCF remain unchanged. However, the series of changes will now be introduced in the books which are yet to hit the market even as the new session has already begun.