Rewriting history: Exploring Hindutva agenda in NCERT textbook revisions

By By Shamsul Islam 

On July 17, 2025, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), unveiled the revised Class 8 Social Science textbook, set for implementation from the 2025-26 session. This edition introduces significant changes, though media reports primarily noted that lessons on Mughal and Muslim rulers were replaced with accounts of religious persecution and atrocities committed by Muslim rulers in India. 

Significant topics have been omitted from the school syllabus. The chapter on the 1975 Emergency in the Class 12 political science textbook "Politics in India after Independence" was reduced by five pages, with sections detailing its harsh impact on people and institutions removed. A reference to the ban on trade union activities during the Emergency was also deleted from Chapter 8 ("Social Movements") of the Class 12 sociology textbook. Nearly three chapters on protests that evolved into social movements in contemporary India were excised from political science textbooks for Classes 6 to 12. The chapter "Rise of Popular Movements" was removed from the Class 12 textbook "Politics in India after Independence," eliminating discussions on the Chipko movement, the Dalit Panthers in Maharashtra during the 1970s, the 1980s agrarian struggles led by the Bharatiya Kisan Union, the Andhra Pradesh anti-alcohol movement, the Narmada Bachao Andolan opposing the Sardar Sarovar Project, and the Right to Information movement. The chapter "Struggle for Equality" from the Class 7 political science textbook, which highlighted the Tawa Matsya Sangh’s fight for displaced forest dwellers’ rights in Madhya Pradesh’s Satpura forests, was also removed.

The third chapter on mass struggles, covering indirect political influence through pressure groups and movements, was dropped from the Class 10 political science textbook "Democratic Politics-II." This chapter included the movement for democracy in Nepal, protests against water privatization in Bolivia, the Narmada Bachao Andolan, the non-violent Kittiko-Hachiko movement in Karnataka in 1987 opposing eucalyptus plantations, the BAMCEF founded by Kanshiram in 1971, and the National Alliance of People’s Movements, with founders like Medha Patkar. The only chapter on social movements in the sociology syllabus for Classes 11 and 12, titled "Social Movements" in the Class 12 textbook "Social Change and Development in India," was significantly curtailed, including the removal of an exercise box asking students to discuss the recent farmers’ protests against the three farm laws.

Four chapters on democracy and the making of Indian democracy were removed, citing overlap with other political science textbooks. For instance, the chapter "Key Elements of Democratic Government" was excised from the Class 6 political science book, which introduced the concept of democracy in middle school and discussed its key elements. Chapters like "Democracy and Diversity" and "Challenges to Democracy" were also removed from the Class 10 political science textbook, initially dropped from the CBSE syllabus in April and now permanently excluded from NCERT textbooks.

A comment by Jawaharlal Nehru on the Bhakra Nangal Dam, describing it as a monumental achievement surpassing temples and mosques, was removed from the Class 12 sociology textbook "Social Change and Development in India." A section on the arbitrariness of colonial sedition law, exemplified by its use against Indian nationalists, was deleted from the chapter "Understanding Laws" in the Class 8 political science book, along with an exercise asking students to analyze the Sedition Act of 1870. The chapter "India after Independence," discussing constitution-making and the creation of linguistic states, was removed from the Class 8 history textbook "Our Pasts III." References to the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition, the 2002 Gujarat riots, and the Manipur violence were also excised from Class 11 and 12 textbooks.

The new Class 8 social science textbook omits Hyder Ali, Tipu Sultan, and the four Anglo-Mysore Wars of the 1700s from its chapter on India’s colonial period. Tipu Sultan, known as the "Tiger of Mysore," led a formidable resistance against British colonialism, pioneered rocket artillery, and oversaw Mysore’s economic peak. He was martyred on May 4, 1799, during the Srirangapatna battle, wearing a gold ring inscribed with "Ram" in Devanagari script. A 1788 letter by A. Campbell to the East India Company highlighted British fears of Tipu’s power. Defending their exclusion, it has been argued that including every war would lead to "cramming," confirming that Tipu Sultan and related events will likely remain absent in future editions.

Contrary to claims in the media, the period of Muslim rule has not been removed but is presented with strong anti-Islam and anti-Muslim rhetoric. The history section of the new textbook, spanning the Delhi Sultanate to the British Raj, includes a note on "Dark Periods of History" marked by war, abuse, fanaticism, and bloodshed. Specific changes include dropping the title "Sultan" from Mahmud Ghazni’s name and revising a sentence to state he raided the subcontinent 17 times (1000-1025 CE) with a religious motive. 

Babur is described as cultured yet brutal, with accounts of him slaughtering populations, enslaving women and children, and building towers of skulls. Akbar’s reign is portrayed as a mix of brutality and tolerance, noting his massacre of 30,000 civilians during the Chittor fort seizure and quoting his claim of erasing infidelity and destroying temples. Aurangzeb’s motives are presented as primarily political, with some temple grants, but his farmans are cited as evidence of his religious intent to demolish schools and temples, including those in Banaras, Mathura, Somnath, and Jain and Sikh sites.

The textbook emphasizes studying these "dark events" objectively without blaming present-day Muslims, yet historical records from "Hindu" sources reveal upper-caste Hindus’ complicity in atrocities by Muslim rulers. RSS ideologue M.S. Golwalkar admitted that local Hindu chieftains aided Mahmud Ghazni in desecrating the Somnath Temple in 1026, believing false claims about Saurashtra’s expansionist designs. Swami Vivekananda noted that the Jagannath Temple, originally Buddhist, was re-Hinduized, a view echoed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, who linked its Rath Yatra to Buddhist rituals. Swami Dayanand Saraswati claimed Shankaracharya broke Jain images during his 8th-century campaigns, while Buddhist sources describe Pushyamitra Shunga’s destruction of Buddhist sites after assassinating the last Mauryan king in 184 BCE.

The narrative accuses Mughal rulers, particularly Aurangzeb, of persecuting Sikhs, but contemporary Sikh records show Hindu hill rajas and a Brahmin servant, Gangu, betrayed Guru Gobind Singh’s family during the 1704 Anandpur Sahib siege. The new Class 8 textbook glorifies the Maratha Empire, claiming the British took India more from the Marathas than the Mughals, but objections from Jaisalmer’s erstwhile princely state highlight inaccuracies in depicting Jaisalmer under Maratha control. Historian Jadunath Sarkar documented the Maratha invasion of Bengal in 1742, describing their wanton destruction and atrocities against Hindus, including rape, mutilation, and murder.

The textbook omits that Babur defeated the Muslim ruler Ibrahim Lodhi to capture northern India and that Hasan Mewati, a Muslim, was the chief commander of Hindu king Rana Sanga, martyred fighting Babur in 1527. Aurangzeb’s crimes were not limited to Hindus; he targeted his father, brothers, Shia Muslims, and other Muslim dynasties. While he attacked Hindu and Jain sites, he also patronized temples like the Gauri Shankar and Jain Lal Mandir in Delhi. Aurobindo Ghosh acknowledged that Mughal rule relied on Hindu upper castes, who held significant power. Historian Tara Chand noted that by the 19th century, Hindus, mainly Rajputs, owned most land in India. The Mughal biographical dictionary Maasir-ul-Umara records that 100 of 365 high-ranking officials from 1556 to 1780 were Hindus, primarily Rajputs and Brahmins.

Aurangzeb’s generals, like Jai Singh I and II, and his Kayastha Prime Minister, Raja Raghunath Bahadur, were Hindus who served loyally. Akbar’s trusted commander, Man Singh I, fought Maharana Pratap in the 1576 Battle of Haldighati, where Pratap’s artillery chief, Hakim Khan Suri, a Muslim, died defending him. Attributing Aurangzeb’s crimes solely to his religion risks parallels with Hindu figures like Ravana, a Brahmin who abducted Sita, or the Kauravas, who disrobed Draupadi in the Mahabharata, where 120 crore Hindus reportedly died in a war among Kshatriyas.

Despite over 500 years of "Muslim" rule, the 1871-72 British census showed Hindus comprised 73.5% of India’s population, undermining claims of widespread persecution or forced conversions. Hindu upper castes controlled national wealth during this period and continue to do so, while common Muslims remained impoverished. The NCERT’s note on studying the "Muslim period" impartially without blaming present-day Muslims is overshadowed by the need to address upper-caste Hindu collaboration with Muslim rulers, as their wealth and power stem from this historical complicity.

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