Mumbai: Historic details and descriptions that have been taught to students for the past 15 years have been washed off in the new version of the NCERT social and political science textbooks released by the centre for academic year 2023-24.
Among these changes were certain references conveying details about the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi were also taken away from school textbooks, reported The Indian Express.
As per the IE report, the following were a part of Class 12 textbooks which were eradicated by the NCERT this year-
'He (Gandhi) was particularly disliked by those who wanted Hindus to take revenge or who wanted India to become a country for the Hindus, just as Pakistan was for Muslims…'
'His steadfast pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists so much that they made several attempts to assassinate Gandhiji…'
Gandhiji’s death had an almost magical effect on the communal situation in the country… The Government of India cracked down on organisations that were spreading communal hatred. Organisations like the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh were banned for some time…
References to Gandhi’s assassin, Nathuram Godse, as “a Brahmin from Pune” and “the editor of an extremist Hindu newspaper who had denounced Gandhiji as ‘an appeaser of Muslims’” were also taken out of a Class 12 History textbook, reported IE.
Why the changes?
NCERT had undertaken the 'rationalisation' of textbooks last year to lighten the load of curriculum on students after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The central body even published a detailed list of all revisions and omissions from the textbooks last year but the reprinted textbooks have only hit the market this month.
As per the Express report, changes relating to Mahatma Gandhi's assassination were not included in NCERT's official document published in June 2022, but were directly included in reprinted textbooks.
