National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Saturday mentioned that dates can’t be erased from historical past even when the federal government tries to take away chapters of the Mughal period from the varsity curriculum. While addressing the media, Farooq Abdullah mentioned, “Dates cannot be erased from history. How can you forget Mughal rulers like Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb, Babur, Akbar, and Jahangir?”
“They have ruled the country for 800 years. No one can forget that. When the public will visit the Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, Red Fort, and Humayun Tomb, what will you tell them? These monuments have got international heritage recognition. So however hard the government tries, it cannot change history,” he added. Earlier National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Director Dinesh Prasad Saklani had clarified that chapters on Mughals had not been `dropped` from CBSE books, and mentioned that it`s a “lie”.”It`s a lie. The chapters on the Mughals have not been dropped. There was a rationalisation process last year because due to COVID, there was pressure on students everywhere,” the NCERT director advised ANI.
“Along with this, the history of Mughals is being taught in Empires in section-2 of the 11th class book. And in the class 12th book there were 2 chapters on the history of the Mughals, out of which theme nine was removed last year, while theme eight is still being taught to the students. This year no chapter has been removed from any book,” he added.In this regard, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan additionally mentioned that the choice to take away a couple of chapters from the textbook has been accomplished with political intentions.
“The decision to remove a few chapters and sections from the NCERT textbooks with a political intention is not only a denial of history but also objectionable. Historical facts cannot be rejected by cutting out what is inconvenient to them from textbooks. It is clear that the aim of such measures is to complete the saffronization of the textbooks,” he mentioned. (ANI)
