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New Indian Textbooks Purged of Muslim History and Hindu Extremism New Indian Textbooks Purged of Muslim History and Hindu Extremism
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When Indian children began the school year this week, students in thousands of classrooms were issued new textbooks on history and politics that either watered down or purged key details from India’s past that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party finds inconvenient to its Hindu nationalist vision for the country.When Indian children began the school year this week, students in thousands of classrooms were issued new textbooks on history and politics that either watered down or purged key details from India’s past that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party finds inconvenient to its Hindu nationalist vision for the country.
The changes took aim at references to the links between Hindu extremism and the assassination of Mohandas K. Gandhi; the secular foundation of post-colonial India; and the 2002 riots in Gujarat, where hundreds of Muslims were killed in days of indiscriminate retaliatory violence at a time when Mr. Modi was the state’s top leader. Chapters on Mughal history, covering hundreds of years of Muslim rule, were either slashed or removed.The changes took aim at references to the links between Hindu extremism and the assassination of Mohandas K. Gandhi; the secular foundation of post-colonial India; and the 2002 riots in Gujarat, where hundreds of Muslims were killed in days of indiscriminate retaliatory violence at a time when Mr. Modi was the state’s top leader. Chapters on Mughal history, covering hundreds of years of Muslim rule, were either slashed or removed.
Among the deleted passages from 12th-grade history and politics texts:Among the deleted passages from 12th-grade history and politics texts:
Gandhi’s “steadfast pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists so much that they made several attempts to assassinate” him.Gandhi’s “steadfast pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists so much that they made several attempts to assassinate” him.
Gandhi “was particularly disliked by those who wanted India to become a country for the Hindus, just as Pakistan was for Muslims.”Gandhi “was particularly disliked by those who wanted India to become a country for the Hindus, just as Pakistan was for Muslims.”
“Instances, like in Gujarat, alert us to the dangers involved in using religious sentiments for political purposes. This poses a threat to democratic politics.”“Instances, like in Gujarat, alert us to the dangers involved in using religious sentiments for political purposes. This poses a threat to democratic politics.”
The alterations, which had been under discussion since last year before being formalized in the newly printed curriculum, follow other efforts by Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., to erase prominent Muslim marks on India’s history and politics, including the frequent changing of street and city names from Muslim to Hindu.The alterations, which had been under discussion since last year before being formalized in the newly printed curriculum, follow other efforts by Mr. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or B.J.P., to erase prominent Muslim marks on India’s history and politics, including the frequent changing of street and city names from Muslim to Hindu.
The governing party’s leaders have also tried to minimize the founding fathers’ arguments for why India’s diversity could survive only under a secular umbrella, co-opting the legacy of many secular leaders as they push to remake India into a Hindu-first nation.The governing party’s leaders have also tried to minimize the founding fathers’ arguments for why India’s diversity could survive only under a secular umbrella, co-opting the legacy of many secular leaders as they push to remake India into a Hindu-first nation.
With that divisive campaign, anti-Muslim hate speech has proliferated, holy sites have been aggressively contested and Hindu lynch mobs have killed Muslims on suspicion of slaughtering or even just transporting cows, which are considered holy by Hindus.
Political interference with education is not new to Indian democracy. Successive federal and state governments have tried to leverage education to their advantage, whether to further an ideological agenda, like stopping a sex education program in a B.J.P.-ruled state, or for self-promotion, including a glowing portrayal of a political opponent of Mr. Modi’s party in a textbook section on a farmers’ movement.