NCERT Texts Drop References To Babri Masjid, Gujarat Riots, Hindutva

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

Also among the changes are 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”.

NCERT did not comment on the topics being dropped. However, 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 Classes 11 and 12 textbooks of Political Science and Social Science.

The reference to the Ram Janmabhoomi movement has been tweaked “as per latest developments in politics”, according to a document detailing the changes prepared by the NCERT’s curriculum drafting committee.

“More than 1,000 persons, mostly Muslims, were massacred during the post Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002,” said Chapter 8 on Secularism in the Class 11 textbook. This has now been changed to ““more than 1,000 persons were killed during the post Godhra riots in Gujarat in 2002”. The NCERT says the rationale behind the change is that “in any riots, people across communities suffer. It cannot be just one community”.

In the Political Science textbook of Class 12 (Politics in India since Independence), Chapter 7, 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.

“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”, read the earlier paragraph. 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.”

The earlier textbook stated, on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, “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).”

Behind the alteration, the NCERT’s rationale 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 mentioned, “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 altered version says, “The Government of India succeeded in persuading the Maharaja into signing a Merger Agreement in September 1949.”

References to the “Ayodhya demolition” have been dropped in Chapter 8 (Recent Developments in Indian Politics). “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?”.

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

This has been changed to “Many cases of human rights violations in diverse fields are being brought to the public notice from across India.”

Meanwhile, the council has revised the definition of the Left in a box item in Chapter 3 of the textbook. “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 existing version states.

“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 revised version states.

Last week, the NCERT had communicated to Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools that new textbooks have been developed for Classes 3 and 6. However, textbooks for other classes, as per NCF, remain unchanged.