Bias in History Books by NCERT for School Students in India
India is a peculiar case in world history. Nowhere is history falsified for students on political grounds than in India and the result is that school textbooks give a biased account of events that unfolded centuries ago. This is hard to explain and one has to look for a reason.
I had a look at the history text book of my nephew and was startled with the gross distortions presented . The Hindu- Muslim conflict and forcible conversion of Hindus to Islam as well as references to Jizya were white washed. In fact the Hindu warriors like Rana Pratap, Hemu, and Shivaji found just one line references, while pages were read by me on Akbar "The Great" and other Muslim rulers.
Even the independence struggle was presented in a biased light as if only Gandhi and Nehru won independence for India. Leaders like Netaji Bose have just one line references. Obviously such a textbook cannot mention that Independence was granted to India by an Act of the British parliament called the " Indian Independence Act".
This falsification of Muslim rule can be traced to the concept of the Congress and Nehru that secularism means ' not to antagonize the Muslims. I have been wonderstruck with this and asked my friend a professor of history at Columbia university for his opinion about it. I also had a word on this with one of the consulting editors of a history site. Both worthies made an interesting observation. I will now recount it here.
As per these men , the Hindus were ruled for 1100 years and during this long period of servility the Hindu mind was conditioned by a psychosis of subconscious fear of Muslims and authority. This is the reason that in 1947 india opted for a secular state with a bias towards the Muslims. The Hindus did not wish to antagonize the Muslims as they had a conditioned mind that the Muslims were the rulers. There are many who will vehemently deny this. Fair enough , but this analysis cannot be thrown in the dustbin.
This is one of the reasons that at the behest of the Congress party the NCERT in 1982 laid down a guideline that a Hindu Muslim conflict in the medieval ages is forbidden to write about. It went on further to add that there should be no criticism of Muslim rule and destruction of Hindu temples never mentioned.
No wonder I found the history book of my nephew obnoxious. I would like to mention that the history taught in the Muslim schools ( madrasas) is exactly opposite where Hindus are the oppressors who were saved by the Muslims. They also dwell in depth on the Hindu Caste system and say it is against the will of Allah. Who will regulate the madrasas?
This is a serious matter. The BJP in its first stint did nothing, but one hopes that with Modi at the helm of affairs some good will come. Yes, many Hindus will shout that this is an example of imposing "hindutva". Well one can just forget about all this and write the truth.
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