People's Democracy

AT a press Conference organised by SAHMAT on December 1, 2001, in New Delhi, senior historians whose books are being withdrawn from the next session, and from which deletions have been ordered with immediate effect by the government, criticised the government policy on varied grounds.

The immediate context was the CBSE circular dated October 23, which was ciculated to all heads of institutions affiliated to the CBSE, notifying that the NCERT has deleted with "immediate effect" certain portions and statements from some history texts, and that schools must take action accordingly. The action required from heads of institutions was that these statements and portions must not be discussed in classrooms, and that questions will also not be set on these portions in the coming examinations. A list of the books, with the specific passages deleted was attached for reference.

The books from which these passages/portions have been deleted have in any way been withdrawn by the NCERT from the next session, therefore the hurry seems more to do with electoral strategies than anything else.

At a crowded press conference the point was made by historians Romila Thapar, Satish Chandra, Arjun Dev and RS Sharma, whose books are being mutilated in this manner. This conclusion can be derived also from the content of the passages that have been deleted. The government has a clear agenda, Brahmanical and Hindutva, in changing the text books, and they do not want to leave space for other views.

Professor RS Sharma pointed out that for the past fifty years there have been all kinds of debates among historians. The government now seems bent on forcing close all these debates to push through its own political agenda through school education. All views must be based on solid evidence if they are to have any justification. "I am being accused of denigrating Brahmins...but my views are hardly based on imagination", he said. The "move to delete the paragraphs has been taken by politicians and government officers having a belief in the supremacy of the brahmanical and Hindutva ideology", and is not based on interpretations in his book being proved wrong on the basis of any fresh evidence. He also pointed out that the projected RSS interpretation of Hinduism excludes even the reform movements within Hinduism, and it is sectarian in the extreme. Most of the portions deleted are from his book Ancient India for Class XI, and pertain to the vedic age, including references to beef eating in ancient India. Most shockingly the portions deleted from his book even include references to the role of the caste system in the ancient period of our history, and the oppression inherent in it

Professor Romila Thapar stressed on the erosion of history as a social science that moves such as these entailed. She did not agree that the matter is simply one of disagreements or even confrontation between leftist and right wing historians. "This is a confrontation between the professional historians on the one hand and the bureucrats-politicians on the other", in which the government sponsored deletions were unjustified on grounds of professional criteria. "History has become a precise and analytical discipline and cannot be reduced to anybody's opinion", she pointed out. There are methods and techniques to analyse information and it is not simply a matter of people's predilections, regardless of evidence and tools of analysis.

She stated categorically that the NCERT move is also a contravention of the contract between the authors and the NCERT. "As per the contract, if any changes were suggested, they had to be first sent to the author who, in consultation with the editorial board, would decide whether to carry out the changes or not". This deletion of portions without reference to author's permission and without any consultation is a violation of the fundamental rights of any author besides being a contravention of the copyright, she said.

She was most disturbed by the references in the circular forbidding discussions in classrooms, which went against the basic freedom of speech and expression enjoyed by every citizen under our constitution. "The deletions also raise the question, she said, of whether or not we should be staightforward with our children and tell them that society was different in the past and changes have taken place."

Professor Satish Chandra has had whole portions dealing with the Sikhs removed from a chapter in his book Medieval India. His work has also been misquoted everywhere, beginning with Pramod Mahajan of the BJP in the parliament, in order to justify the deletions. Mahajan decided to substitute the word "rapine", which means robbery, with "rape", and since then this is what the RSS ideologues and sympathisers have been doing everywhere in all street meetings and educational institutions in support of their contention that leftist historians have denigrated sikh religion and abused the Sikh guru Teg Bahadur. Professor Satish Chandra has in fact presented a very positive view of the Sikh guru in the chapter in question, referring to him as the rallying force against injustice and oppression.

The basic discipline of history is meant for bringing to the notice of students different facts derived from different sources in order to train them to examine all facts critically and to derive their interpretation on the basis of assessment of varied sources, he said, and what he has done in his book is to give the various sources, and then his positive interpretation of the guru's role. He has tried to show that the execution of the guru was not just a religious issue, but also had a socio-economic dimension related to peasant grievances and opposition to Aurangzeb on other grounds.

Professor Arjun Dev is the co author of Modern India for Class VII, along with his wife, Indira Arjun Dev. The book has had passages deleted referring to the plundering role of the jats in North India. Speaking at the press conference, he said that the government, through these deletions, is primarily testing the waters to see how far it can go at this juncture. A former professor at NCERT itself, now having retired, he is familiar with procedures and past happening at the institutions. He stated categorically that it is a falsehood that the government has received thousands of protesting letters from Sikhs, Jains and Jats on "sentiments" being hurt. He also elaborated on procedures followed with regard to revisions. It is a false statement that these books have not been revised for years. Constant revisions and updates have been made, however, following the accepted practice, of consultation with the authors.

The Press conference has been followed by statements from various students and teachers bodies protesting the move by the government to force schools to fall in line and to change the content of history teaching in schools. Meetings and discussions have been organised in educational institutions, and Delhi University Forum for Democracy has held a protest march on December 6 in the University, when the assault on secular historiography was protested along with remembering and protesting the destruction of babri masjid by the same political forces.