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The report says the texts by Makkhan Lal
ignore rigidity of the caste system, oppression of lower castes and are
neutral towards sati and jauhar (or even adopt an admiring
stance). Rakshasa marriages are described as legitimate. Serious
attempt has been made to communalise history in these texts.
The NCERT books project
that Muslims brought little new, except oppression and
temple-destruction. Dark spots in history are attributed to Muslims and
the rise of a composite culture is ignored. ‘Muslim separatism’ is
highlighted while Hindu Mahasabha leaders are portrayed as patriots.
This report is the result
of serious research on the ambiguities in the NCERT textbooks and
highlights the importance of understanding the correct perspective in
history. It has also necessitated rethinking on the issue of
historiography. NCERT has attempted to construct a history inspired by
myth. What was earlier considered part of historical criticism is now
built into history itself. Ancient India—Class VI by Makkhan
Lal is abound with pitiful historical and spelling errors. The serial
errors reveal how, by selectively distorting the facts and changing the
meanings, Lal has tried to saffronise history. He uses the term ‘Vedic
culture’ for ‘Vedic civilisation’ and says that ‘Vedic people
know astronomy’. At another point he says ‘Buddha was very critical
of this jati system (and not the varna system) and
preached simple living’. The selective replacement of ‘caste’ by
‘jati’ is an attempt to not just idealise the varna system
but also legitimise the atrocities committed on shudras and
outcastes for thousands of years.
The report also highlights
an attempt to romanticise ancient Indian history. "The army chief
Pushyamitra Sunga killed him (the last Mauryan ruler, Brihadratha) in
187 BC. This is the only incident in the history of India till 12th
century AD when a king was killed and replaced." This is meant to
convey that Indian kings were not brutes. But ancient history is studded
with incidents of usurpation of power through bloodshed. In another
reference, Lal says, "From the days of Ramayana Indians had close
links with Sri Lanka". Here a mythical attribution is projected as
historical evidence. Makkhan Lal’s Ancient India for Class XI eulogises
that "the knowledge of history was given a very high place in
ancient India. It was accorded sanctity equal to a Veda". The
report, however, shows that Rajatarangini of Kalhana is the
solitary example of a historical work in ancient India. To add to it,
Lal places Mahabharata ‘somewhere around 6377 BC’. This amounts to
assigning Mahabharata a pre-Harappan antiquity. Even B.B. Lal won’t
assign such an early date to this event. Also, H.C. Raychaudhuri assigns
it to the 9th century BC.
There are numerous
conscious historical, geographical and linguistic fabrications.
Meenakshi Jain’s Medieval India—Class IX has a basic purpose
of highlighting the ‘barbarity of the Muslims’. The report explains
how Jain has tried to show that Hindus have been wronged and their
histories have been distorted in the hands of ‘secular fundamentalists’.
She tends to reaffirm the Medieval Age as the ‘dark age’ and that
Muslims brought extreme radicalism, exploitation and intolerance. She
goes to the extent of suggesting "there is nothing to show that
Islam mitigated social discrimination against low-caste Hindu converts.
Certainly they did not regard the converts as social equals".
Although there is no
agreement on the authorship of Chandi di Var and Chandi
Charittar Ukat Bilas, Jain confirms through these texts that ‘Guru
(Gobind Singh) was devotee of goddess Chandi’.
In Hari Om’s Contemporary
India for Class IX Independence is not attributed to the seamless
struggle of the freedom fighters but to US and USSR pressure on Britain,
due to which it decided to withdraw. The Indian National Congress is not
supposed to be the harbinger of freedom, but a mere ‘safety valve’
in the hands of the British. Every step has been taken to derecognise
the role of Muslims in nation building. Instead, they are regarded as
‘wedded to Pan-Islamism’. While so much is said about communalism
among Muslims, the author fails to even mention the remarks of the RSS
or the Hindu Mahasabha.
The NCERT has proved right
the fears of progressive historians. The report by the IHC perhaps gives
just an indication of what the Sangh Parivar has in store for Indians.
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