NCERT books drop references to Babri demolition, Gujarat riots

New Delhi, April 5

The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has introduced 56 changes in the political science textbook of Class XII. While references to the Babri Masjid demolition have been dropped, sentences on Manipur’s accession to India in 1949 have been rephrased and the definition of Left has been changed.

‘Left’ definition Revised

The NCERT has also revised the definition of Left in a textbook. While the existing version reads, “Left often refers to those who are in favour of the poor, downtrodden sections and support government policies for the benefit of these sections”, the new one states, “Left often refers to those who are in favour of state control of the economy and prefers state regulation over free competition.”

References to the Gujarat riots in the Class IX Social Science book have also been removed. The earlier version read, “Do you notice references to the National Human Rights Commission in the news collage on this page? These references reflect the growing awareness of human rights and struggles for human dignity. Many cases of human rights violations in diverse fields, for instance the Gujarat riots, are being brought to the public notice from across India.” The changed version reads, “Many cases of human rights violations in diverse fields are being brought to the public notice from across India.”

A chapter in the older version of the Class XII book read, “A number of events culminated in the demolition of the disputed structure at Ayodhya (known as Babri Masjid) in December 1992. This event symbolised and triggered various changes in the politics of the country and intensified debates about the nature of Indian nationalism and secularism. These developments are associated with the rise of the BJP and the politics of ‘Hindutva’.”

It has been changed to, “The centuries-old legal and political dispute over the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya started influencing the politics of India, which gave birth to various political changes. The Ram Janmabhoomi Temple movement, becoming the central issue, transformed the direction of the discourse on secularism and democracy. These changes culminated in the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya following the decision of the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court (which was announced on November 9, 2019).”

References to Article 370 have also been included in the new textbooks. The revised version of the books will be available in the market by end of April. Officials of the NCERT have refused to comment on the revised changes in the books.