Opposition slams deletions in NCERT books; says those who re-write history are consigned to its dustbin

The decision to drop certain content from the NCERT history textbooks has led to uproar from the several people. Congress on Wednesday accused the government of distorting history and "whitewashing with a vengeance" after certain parts such as Mahatma Gandhi's assassination and the subsequent ban on the RSS for some time was reportedly dropped.

The Opposition party slammed the BJP-RSS, saying that those who try to re-write history are consigned to the "dustbin of history".

"Gandhiji's death had a magical effect on the communal situation in the country", "Gandhi's pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists" and "Organisations like RSS were banned for some time" are among the texts missing from the class 12 political science textbook for the new academic session.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge slammed the BJP and RSS over the issue, saying no matter how much they try, they cannot erase history.

"You can (make) changes in Textbooks but you cannot change the history of the country. This is an attempt by the BJP-RSS, they can try as much as they want, but they cannot erase history," he said.

Tagging a media report on the issue, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said on Twitter, "Whitewashing with a vengeance."

Tagging another report which claimed that chapters related to the Mughals and Dalit writers have also been axed from the textbooks, he said, "This reveals the ruling regime's TRUE mindset. After all, the RSS had not only attacked Gandhi but had been bitterly opposed to Dr Ambedkar as well."

Asked about the issue at a press conference at the Congress headquarters, Manish Tewari said the re-writing history has been an "ongoing endeavour" with the RSS and BJP.

"This is not the first time that this has happened. I recall that in the first and second NDA governments in 1998-99, this particular project was being unveiled. The only thing I would like to say is that you can distort history but you cannot erase it," he said.

Truth has a way of manifesting itself. History bears testimony to the fact that those who have tried to re-write history have been consigned to the "dustbin of history", Tewari said.

Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate also attacked the BJP over the issue, alleging that they want to erase the contribution of Mahatma Gandhi by writing a "new history".

"But Prime Minister Modi, history is not changed it is made by strong resolve," she said.

Abhishek Singhvi has termed the move "beyond dumb". "Even if they had to make a case to make the children learn history of so called Mughal atrocities it's better to keep them in the books as opposed to removing them all together. Yes people of India, you vote for such masterstrokes," he said in his tweet.

CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury has said that "Communal rewriting of history intensifies. NCERT revises Class XII history book removing chapters on Mughal empire. The lands of India have always been the churning crucible of civilisational advances through cultural confluences."

Kapil Sibal has pegged the move "consistent with Modiji’s Bharat modern Indian history," which he says starts from 2014.

"NCERT textbooks:

Effaced:

1) Gandhi’s pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity

2) Banning of RSS

3) All references to Gujarat riots

4) Protests that turned into social movements in contemporary India", he has said.