Historical Controversy
The controversy began when government's move to amend certain school level history textbooks became public. On November 23, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Rita Verma, informed the upper house of parliament that four history textbooks were found to contain "factual errors, biases and coloration.' Steps were being taken to correct them. Objectionable references had been found in renowned historian Romila Thapar's book Ancient India' prescribed for Class VI and Ram Sharan Sharma's 'Ancient India' prescribed for Class XI students. Two other textbooks, one by Arjun Dev and Indira Dev prescribed for class XI, and another by Satish Chandra on medieval India contained objectionable matter. According to the minister, these books were guilty of hurting the sentiments of religious minorities and cultural communities. The National Council for education research and Training (NCERT) has been entrusted with the task of preparing refined textbooks without such objectionable matter. These new books would be ready for the next academic year. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has directed schools across India to delete objectionable portions and ensure that they are not taught or discussed in classes with immediate effect.
All these historians are highly respected in the academic community for their calibre. Their books have been in the syllabus for as long as four decades. Romila Thapar's is on the scene since 1966 with a revision in 1987. Therefore, the charge of hurting sentiments appeared rather late. Let us look at some of the text objectionable to our present government:
"For special guests beef was served as a mark of honour" (Class VI, Romila Thapar)
"Cattle wealth slowly decimated because cows and bullocks were killed in numerous Vedic sacrifices ... the brahmanical reaction began as a result of the policy of Ashoka. He... derided superfluous rituals performed by women. This naturally affected the income of the Brahmanas." (Class XI, R S Sharma)
"Archaeological evidence should be considered far more important than long family trees given in the Puranas. The Puranic tradition could be used to date Rama of Ayodhya around 2000 BC, but extensive excavations in Ayodhya do not show any settlements around that date." (R.S Sharma)
"Jats founded their state at Bharatpur from where they conducted plundering raids in the regions around." (Class VIII, Arjun Dev and Indira Arjun Dev)
"In 1675, Guru Tegh Bahadur was arrested and executed. The official explanation for this... is that after his return from Assam, the Guru, in association with one Hafiz Adam, resorted to plundering and raping, laying waste the whole province of Punjab." (Class XI, Satish Chandra)
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