'Bharat' syllabus of frenzied nationalism
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A special committee appointed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for syllabus reform has recommended that the word 'India' be replaced by the word Bharat in all social science textbooks up to Class XII. Needless to say, the disdain for 'INDIA' maintained by the central government ever since the United Opposition changed its name to INDIA has spilled over into the textbooks as well. This proposal can also be seen as a continuation of the use of 'Bharat' in many places, including the recently concluded G20 summit. Beyond all that, it has to be seen as a complete acceptance of the Modi government's Hindutva agenda by independent institutions like NCERT. This goes with the panel's other recommendations including the highlighting of "Hindu victories" in various battles in the textbooks, removal of the historical parts of the Mughals and Sultans, introducing ‘classical history’ instead of ‘ancient history’ in the textbooks, the history of freedom struggle being shortened and priority being given to the history of post-independence India. At a glance, it is clear what the aim of the syllabus reform is. The administration is nearing completion of a plan to deliberately introduce into schools symbols and practices of the frenzied nationalism of Hindutva, which has resulted in mob lynchings and ethnic attacks on minorities. It is not enough to only condemn the move, but also calls for a strong political resistance.
NCERT had made similar revisions almost six months ago. At that time, the chapter related to Gandhi's assassination was removed. The passage omitted from the Class 12 Political Science textbook was: “Gandhiji's steadfast pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists so much that they made several attempts to assassinate Gandhiji. Gandhiji’s death had an almost magical effect on the communal situation in the country. The Government of India cracked down on organisations that were spreading communal hatred. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh were banned for some time." One can only guess the purpose of removing such parts of textbooks. Sections of History, Social Science, Civics, Hindi and other subjects of various classes which were not compatible with the Hindutva concept were ruthlessly cut out. Some parts of Mughal history were caught in those 'reform projects' and were omitted; the rest will be culled with the implementation of the new recommendations. NCERT has deleted references to the Gujarat Genocide along with Gandhi's murder. The poem marking the new era of struggles and interventions of Dalit movements in the country was also deleted then. There were huge protests at that time against this but ignoring all of them, the authorities are gearing up for a more extensive syllabus revision. There is no doubt that this is the step of Hindutva to change not only the history but also the destiny of the country. This is the work that started from the day the earlier NDA government led by Vajpayee came to power. In the VII standard history book, the Mughal rulers were described as brutal invaders and uncivilized, which became highly controversial. Throughout the book, the Sultanate and Mughal periods were referred to as the 'Dark Ages'. In 2004, as soon as the UPA government came to power, all these changes were reversed.
Like in all other areas, saffronization of the syllabus accelerated in 2014 when the Sangh Parivar swept to power in more aggressive posture. In the past eight years, NCERT alone played on this agenda four times. About 2500 changes have been made in more than 200 textbooks. As a result, textbooks up to class 12 now contain skewed and false information that was provided, including in the Indian Science Congress. National leaders like Nehru were excluded from textbooks when Modi's "educational reforms" were implemented. 'India' is now being replaced by that 'reform' as well. The committee got enlightened with a discovery that the Vishnu Purana mentions "Bharat," which serves as justification for the proposed revision. Hindutva's trick of combining myth and history is being presented as legitimate. All Indians have a responsibility to preserve this historical incitement of xenophobia in the arrogance of power.
