Hindu nationalists rewriting history in India's classrooms: Report

Over 70 years since independence, the Indian government has been accused of rewriting history as the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeks to promote its own Hindu nationalist agenda.

Since the BJP came to power in 2014, there have been multiple amendments to textbooks, with critics alleging a “saffronisation” of the curriculum in schools and universities, the Guardian reported Thursday. 

School textbooks were edited to remove references to Mahatma Gandhi’s opposition to Hindu nationalism, as well as mention of a controversial religious riot in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi was implicated.

School textbooks were edited to remove references to leader of Indian Independence Movement Mahatma Gandhi’s opposition to Hindu nationalism.

The new editions of political science and history textbooks published by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) reportedly drew controversy over the amendments.

Among the changes to the political science textbook for 17- and 18-year-olds was the removal of a reference to the dislike Hindu nationalists had for Gandhi and how they made multiple attempts to assassinate him.

Gandhi was killed by a Hindu nationalist, Nathuram Godse, in 1948. The independence leader is still reviled by some Hindu nationalists for his views on Hindu-Muslim unity.

In recent years, references to the Muslim history in India have been repeatedly removed or amended, while references to the hardline Hindu nationalist ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar as a “most celebrated freedom fighter” and a “great patriot” have been added.

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Textbooks were also revised to remove chapters on the history of the Muslim rulers who controlled much of India between the 16th and 19th centuries.

The amended textbooks also removed reference to the ban faced by the militant Hindu organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) after Gandhi’s assassination. The BJP is seen as the political wing of the RSS and they remain ideologically aligned. Several BJP leaders, including Modi, were members of the RSS.

The references to the Gujarat riots have also been purged from textbooks by NCERT. The riots, which took place in 2002, are a particularly sensitive topic for Premier Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat at the time and was accused of being complicit in the violence, which involved brutal attacks on Muslim families and the deaths of more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims.

The ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), which has pursued a Hindu nationalist agenda, has been open about its desire to rewrite the country’s history. “It is our responsibility to write our history,” said the home affairs minister, Amit Shah, in a 2019 speech.

Opposition politicians widely condemned the textbook revisions. “You can change the truth in books but you cannot change the history of the country,” said Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the opposition Congress party.

The BJP government stands accused at federal and state levels of discriminating against religious minorities.

Observers say anti-Muslim rhetoric has flared more aggressively since the BJP came to power in 2014. Critics say the BJP is downgrading the contributions of Muslims to Indian history and society.

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