Received via Maya John, the following statement was issued by over 250 historians and concerned scholars, protesting against the blatantly ideologically driven agenda of the present government in deleting chapters and sections of the school textbooks.

The recent decision of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to drop entire chapters from the history textbooks for class 12, as well as from other classes and to delete statements from other textbooks is a matter of deep concern. Using the period of the pandemic-cum-lockdowns to argue that there was a need to lighten the load of the curriculum, the NCERT initiated a contentious process of dropping topics like the history of the Mughal courts, the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, the Emergency, mention of Dalit writers, the Naxalite movement, and the fight for equality from social science, history, and political science textbooks of classes 6 to 12. The new editions of these NCERT books have simply made the deletions the norm even when we are in a post-pandemic context in which school education has limped back to normalcy and is no longer in the online mode.

In this light, it is deeply troubling that a chapter on the Mughals has been deleted from part-II of the history textbook for class 12, while two chapters on modern Indian history have been removed from part-III of the history textbook. There has been no attempt to consult members of the teams that had prepared the textbooks, which included historians and school teachers, apart from members of the NCERT. The books were developed through a process of consultation and wide-ranging discussions. This was valuable not only in terms of content, but also in terms of pedagogy, which ensured an organic unity and a graded development in understanding from the middle to the senior school. The attempt was also to make the textbooks as inclusive as possible, and to provide a sense of the rich diversity of the human past both within the subcontinent and the wider world. As such, removing chapters / sections of chapters is highly problematic not only in terms of depriving learners of valuable content, but also in terms of the pedagogical values required to equip them to meet present and future challenges. While we understand the need for periodic revisions of school textbooks, this can only be done in sync with the consensus of existing historical scholarship. However, the selective deletion in this round of textbook revision reflects the sway of divisive politics over pedagogic concerns.

According to the Director, NCERT, the deletions are part of the rationalisation of the school textbooks, and have been done in order to reduce the burden on students. As per the NCERT, during the pandemic the students faced loss in learning, and in the post-pandemic period the students have been feeling overburdened with the syllabus. According to the NCERT, since some of the chapters were overlapping across subjects and classes, it was rational to reduce the content for the overburdened students. The NCERT authorities have denied any ulterior political motive behind this move of rationalisation.

However, notwithstanding the NCERT Director’s denial, the selective dropping of NCERT book chapters which do not fit into the larger ideological orientation of the present ruling dispensation exposes the non-academic, partisan agenda of the regime in pushing through amendments to school textbooks. This becomes abundantly clear when one critically analyses the removal of selective themes in the textbooks in the backdrop of the present central government’s larger ideological agenda of misconstruing the history of the people of the Indian subcontinent as a product of a hegemonic singular (Hindu) tradition.

Driven by such an agenda, the chapter titled ‘Kings and Chronicles: The Mughal Courts (c. sixteenth-seventeenth centuries) has been deleted from part-II of the history textbook. This is despite the fact that the Mughals ruled several parts of the subcontinent for a substantial period; making the history of these times an inseparable part of the subcontinent’s history. In medieval times, the Mughal empire and the Vijayanagara empire were two of the most important empires in the Indian subcontinent, both of which were discussed in the previous textbooks. In the revised version, while the chapter on the Mughals has been deleted, the chapter on the Vijayanagara Empire has been retained. The exclusion exposes the wider communal undertones, based on an inaccurate assumption about India’s past — that the religion of the rulers was the dominant religion of the times. This leads to the deeply problematic idea of a ‘Hindu’ era, ‘Muslim’ era, etc. These categories are uncritically imposed on what has historically been a very diverse social fabric.

Moreover, two very important chapters have been deleted from part-III on Modern India, namely, ‘Colonial Cities: Urbanisation, Planning and Architecture’ and ‘Understanding Partition: Politics, Memories, Experiences’. Also significant is the deletion of any mention of the role of Hindu extremists in the killing of Gandhi. For example, in the chapter titled ‘Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement’ in part-III of the history textbook the reference to Nathuram Godse being “the editor of an extremist Hindu newspaper” has been expunged.

It is important to stress that the present retrograde step by the NCERT to delete entire chapters and portions of texts from the history textbooks is not based on any academic or pedagogic consideration. Rather, the chapters deleted from the history textbook are precisely those which do not fit into the pseudo-historical schema of the ruling dispensation. Excising any period from the study of the past would make students unable to comprehend the connecting thread of the past with the present times, and would deprive students of an opportunity to connect, compare and contrast the past and the present, and would disrupt the organic inter-connectedness of the subject-matter of the discipline. Furthermore, removing entire periods of history from history textbooks would not only perpetuate misconceptions and misunderstandings, but would serve to further the divisive communal and casteist agenda of the ruling elites. The books and history syllabi designed earlier by the NCERT were meant to provide an understanding of the Indian subcontinent as a great melting pot of different cultures consisting of various groups, ethnicities, etc. The sequence of the chapters was designed to teach students about the craft of history, and to develop critical thinking about the past. The composite heritage of the Indian subcontinent and historical genealogies of the present times were the main focus of the old NCERT syllabus from which chapters have now been strategically excised.

Apart from deletions in the history textbook of class 12, there are several deletions from the history textbook of class 11, which includes very essential themes like the industrial revolution, inter alia. There are also deletions from the textbook for political science, which includes sections on the rise of popular movements, the 2002 Gujarat Riots, and the mention of the report of the National Human Rights Commission. Similarly, the reference to the 2002 Gujarat Riots has been dropped from the Class 11 sociology textbook ‘Understanding Society’.

Guided by a divisive and partisan agenda, the NCERT by selectively deleting several important themes from school textbooks is not only doing great disservice to the composite heritage of the Indian subcontinent, but betraying the aspirations of the Indian masses. The colonial constructions and their contemporaneous reproduction manifest the misconstruing of Indian civilization as a product of a hegemonic singular tradition, such that categories like ‘Hindu society’ are uncritically imposed on what has historically been a very diverse social fabric. Ultimately, all these deletions present the students with a sanitized history of a homogenous ‘Hindu’ society in the Indian subcontinent. History of this variety has a disturbing preoccupation with the narrative surrounding kings and the wars they waged. It reduces state formations, empire-building, and transformations of the medieval period to an unsubstantiated, perennial contest between an allegedly homogenous ‘Hindu’ society and ‘Islamic’ invaders and rulers. It also projects the idea of presumably widespread social harmony in India’s past which conceals the exploitation and oppression of populations under different state formations along the axes of gender, caste, and class etc. It also overlooks regional diversity. By reducing the study of history to such monolithic accounts, the ground is being prepared for pseudo-histories, especially of a communal and casteist variety, to hold sway.  In any case, such ‘histories’ are widely circulated today through WhatsApp and other social media applications.

We are appalled by the decision of the NCERT to remove chapters and statements from the history textbooks, and demand that the deletions from the textbooks should be immediately withdrawn. The decision of the NCERT is guided by divisive motives. It is a decision which goes against the constitutional ethos and composite culture of the Indian subcontinent. As such, it must be rescinded at the earliest.

A R Khan	Retired Professor, IGNOU
Abhijit Guha	Retired Professor
Abhijit Roy	Jadavpur University
Abigail Mcgowan	Professor of History, University of Vermont
Adil Jussanwalla
Aditi Chandra	University of California
Aditi Kanchanbaras	University of Hyderabad
Aditya Mukherjee	Retd. Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
Aisarya Dutt Roy	University of Hyderabad
Ajeet Kumar	Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, DU
Ajitha Kakumanu	Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College
Akanksha Singh	Lady Sriram College, DU
Akhila Mathew	Azim Premji University
Alka Saikia	Gargi College, DU
Amita Paliwal	Jesus & Mary College, DU
Anamitra Sarkar	St. Paul’s Cathedral Mission College, Kolkata
Anand Chakrabarti	Former Professor, DU
Anand K. Sahay
Anand Patwardhan	Researcher and documentary filmmaker
Anil Kumar	Motilal Nehru College, University of Delhi
Anindita Ghoshal	Diamond Harbour Women’s University, Kolkata
Anisha Srivastava	Sri Aurobindo College (Eve), University of Delhi
Anita Rampal	Retd. Professor, Central Institute of Education, DU
Anjan Roy
Anuradha Roy	Retd. Professor, Jadavpur University
Anustup Basu	University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
Anwesha Sengupta	Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata
Aparna Balachandran	Dept of History, DU
Apoorvanand	Dept. of Hindi, DU
Apurba Kumar Baruah	Guwahati
Archana Ojha	Kamala Nehru College
Archisman Chaudhuri	Rutgers University
Arnav Gogoi	University of Delhi
Arunangsha Maity	Taki Government College, West Bengal
Asha Hans Sansristi
Ashesh Kumar Dhar	University of Hyderabad
Ashish Ghosh	Retd. Associate Professor, Dyal Singh College (Evening), University of Delhi
Ashoke Chatterjee
Ashwin Padi	Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi
Aashique Ahmad Iqbal	KREA University
Ataullah	Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi
Avijit Singh	Research Scholar, DU
Avinash Kumar	Centre for Equity Studies
Badri Raina	Author/Columnist
Barbara D. Metcalf	University of California Davis
Bharati Jagannathan	Miranda House College
Bhim Tiwari	Research Scholar, DU
Bhupinder K Chaudhry	Maharaja Agrasen College, DU
Biswajit Mohanty	Delhi University
Biswaroop Chatterjee	Durgapur, West Bengal
Bob van der Linden	University of Amsterdam
Brij Tankha	Retd. Professor, Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi
Buddhadeb Bagchi	Retd. Professor, Calcutta University
C. Saratchand	University of Delhi
Chairashree Das Gupta	Centre for Law and Governance, JNU
Chayanika Uniyal	Shyama Prasad Mukherji College for Women, DU
Chitran D	University of Hyderabad
Christiane Brosius	Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies
Christine Marrewa-Karwosi	Columbia University
D. Manjit	Delhi University
Dane Kennedy	Professor Emeritus, George Washington University
David Blamey	London
David Ludden	Professor of History, New York University
Debashree Mukherjee	MESAAS, Columbia University
Debjani Sengupta	IP College, Delhi University
Denys Leighton	OP Jindal University
Devaki Khanna
Devarpita Manjit	Delhi University
Dilip Menon	University of Witwatersrand
Dilip Simeon	Writer and former Professor, Ramjas College, DU
Dilshad Ahmad	Composite school SARVAT
Dinesh Kumar Singh	Bharati College, Delhi University
Dinesh Varshney	Motilal Nehru College (Evening
Dipta Bhog
Dolan Samanta	Research Scholar, JNU
Farhat Hasan	Dept. of History, DU
Feroze Chandra	Retired
G. Arunima	Professor, JNU
Geeta Arya	Lakshmibai College, University of Delhi
Gyan Prakash	Professor, Princeton University
Harbans Mukhia	Retd. Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
Haokholal Kipgen	University of Hyderabad
Inder Salim
Indu Agnihotri	Historian and writer
Indranee Dutta	OKDISCD, Guwahati
Irfan Habib	Historian and Professor Emeritus, AMU
Ismail Vengasseri	Lady Sriram College, DU
Jabir P.	Dept. of History, University of Hyderabad
Jashobanta Pan	Berhampur University
Jaya S. Tyagi	Dept. of History, DU
Jayanti Gupta	Kamala Nehru College
Jayati Ghosh	University of Massachusetts Amherst
Justin Mathew	Hansraj College, DU
Karen Gabriel	Delhi University
Kausik Bandyopadhyay
K N Sunandan	Ajim Premji University
K. Satchidanandan	Professor
K.I. Tuteja
Kali Chittibabu	JNU
K.M.SHRIMALI	Retd. Professor, Dept. of History, DU
Kanhad Sinha	The Sanskrit College and University, Kolkata
Karuna Dietrich Wielenga	Azim Premji University
Kavita Singh	Retd. Professor, School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU
Kavita Srivastava	PUCL
Keya Dasgupta	Retired faculty, CSSSC, Kolkata
Krishnakumar M.V.	Newman College, Thodupuzha, Kerala
Kumkum Roy	Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
Lakshmi Subramaniam	Visiting Professor of History, BITS Pilani, Goa
Latika Gupta	University of Delhi
Levin N R	Bharati College, Delhi University
Lianboi Vaiphei	Indraprastha College for Women, University if Delhi
M H Ilias	Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam
M V Shobhana Warrier	Kamala Nehru College, DU
Madhuri Chatterjee
Madhuri Sharma	Bharati College,  Delhi University
Malavika Kasturi	Dept. of History, University of Toronto
Manorama Sharma	Retired professor, Dept. of History, NEHU, Shillong
Manu V. Devadevan	IIT-Mandi
Maroona Murmu	Dept. of History, Jadavpur University
Martin Sökefeld	Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Germany
Maya John	Jesus and Mary College, DU
Maya Krishna Rao	Theatre artist
Md. Hamid Husain	Zakir Husain Delhi College, University of Delhi
Meena Bhargava	Retd. Associate Professor, Indraprastha College for Women, DU
Meena Megha Malhotra	History for Peace – The Seagull Foundations for the Arts
Mekhola Gomes	Amherst College
Mercy Dutta	JNU
Mita Hussain	Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, DU
Mohd. Bilal	Research Scholar, DU
Monika Saxena	Ramjas College, DU
Monmayee Basu	Hansraj College, DU
Moushami Bhowmik
Mridula Mukherjee	Retd. Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
Mukul Kesavan	Retd. Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia
Mukul Mangalik	Retd. Professor, Ramjas College, DU
Naina Dayal	St. Stephen’s College, DU
Najibuddin Ahmed	Assam
Nandita Narain	Delhi University
Nasir Tyabji	Jamia Millia Islamia
Navoneel Ray	Research Scholar, JNU
Nayana Dasgupta	Lady Sriram College, DU
Neerja Singh	Satyawati College (Evening), DU
Neeru Ailwadi	Delhi College for Arts and Commerce, DU
Nilambri Ghai
Nishtha Srivastava	Shivaji College, University of Delhi
Nitoo Das	IPCW, DU
P.K. Basant	Jamia Millia Islamia
Pankaj Jha	Lady Sriram College, DU
Partho Datta	School of Arts and Aesthetics, JNU
Parvin Sinclair	Retd. Professor, IGNOU
Pia Malik	Research Scholar, Delhi University
Ponniah Rajamanickam	People Science Movement
Poonam Kanwal	Janaki Devi Memorial College, DU
Prabhu Prasad Mohapatra	Department of History, University of Delhi
Pradip Datta	Retd. Professor, JNU
Pragati	University of Hyderabad
Pragati Mohapatra	Indraprastha College for Women, University if Delhi
Pranab Kanti Basu	Retired Professor, Visva-Bharati
Pratyay Nath	Ashoka University
Preeti Chauhan	Lakshmibai College, University of Delhi
Preeti Chauhan	Lakshmibai College, DU
Prem Kumar	Delhi University
Promukh Bhattacharya	Durgapur, West Bengal
Puneet Yadav	Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi
Purwa Bharadwaj	Delhi
R. Lakshmi	JNU
R. Mahalakshmi	Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
R. S. Meena	Banaras Hindu University
Rachna Singh	Hindu College, DU
Radhika Chadha	Miranda House, DU
Radhika Singha	Retd. Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
Rajesh Kumar	Motilal Nehru Evening College, DU
Rajinder Arora
Rajni Arora
Rajshree Chandra	DU
Rajshree Dhali	Sri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, DU
Rakesh Kumar	Ram Lal Anand College, Du
Ram Murti Sharma	Central Institute for Education, DU
Ramesh Dixit
Rana P. Behal	Retd. Associate Professor, Deshbandhu College, DU
Ranbir Chakravarti	Retd. Professor, Centre of Historical Studies, JNU
Ranjan Anand	Zakir Husain College (Evening), University of Delhi
Ranjan Ghosh
Rashmi Pant	Delhi University (retired)
Ratan Lal	Hindu College, DU
Ravi Ahuja	Centre for Modern Indian Studies of Georg-August-University Göttingen
Renu Bala	DU
Renuka Devsare	Goethe Institit, Delhi
Reyaz Ahmad
Rhea David	St. Stephen’s College, DU
Ritu Menon	Delhi
Romila Thapar	Historian and Professor Emerita, JNU
Rudrashish Chakraborty	Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi
Ruplekha Khullar
S CHINMUANTHANG	University of Hyderabad
S.K. Ehteshan Uddin Ahmad	Dept. of Law, AMU
S.Krishnaswamy	Retired Senior Professor Ex Madurai Kamaraj University
Sabina Kazmi	Delhi University
Sachin N	Delhi University
Sagnik Saha	Doctoral Scholar, University of Hyderabad
Samreen Hussain	Lucknow
Sandhya Sharma	Vivekanand College, Du
Sangeeta Luthra Sharma	St. Stephen’s College, DU
Sanghamitra Rai Verman	Jesus & Mary College, DU
Sanjay Verma	Kirori Mal College, DU
Sanjeeb Mukherjee	formerly with University of Calcutta
Sanjukta Naskar
Sanoj Kumar	Shyam Lal College, DU
Santanu Sengupta	Polba Mahavidyalaya, University of Burdwan
Santosh George
Santoshi Kumari	Delhi University
Sarah Chauhan	Jamia Millia Islamia
Sarika Sunder	Dept. of History, University of Vermont
Saumya Gupta	Janaki Devi Memorial College, DU
Sayandeb Chowdhury	School of Letters, Ambedkar University Delhi
Shabnam Hashmi	Anhad
Shadab Banu	Women’s College, AMU
Shahana Bhattacharya	Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi
Shailja Menon	Ambedkar University, Delhi
Shantha Sinha
Shatarupa Bhattacharya	Lady Sriram College, DU
Sheodutt	University of Delhi
Shikha Jhingan	Associate Professor, JNU
Shilpi Rajpal	University of Copenhagen
Shivaji K. Panikkar	Delhi/Vadodara
Shobhana M V Warrier	Kamala Nehru College, DU
Shobna Nijhawan	York University, Toronto
Shreekala MV	JNU
Shubhra Sinha	Kamala Nehru college
Shubhra Sinha	Kamala Nehru College, DU
Simmi Mehta	Mata Sundri College for Women, DU
Smita Sahgal	Lady Sriram College, DU
Sneha Ganguly	Jesus and Mary College
Snigdha Singh	Miranda House, DU
Sonu Vincent	Jesus and Mary college
Souraj Bhan Bhardwaj
Srabani Chakraborty	Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
Sreekala M V	Jawaharlal Nehru University
Srila Roy	Wits university, South Africa
Srimanjiri	Miranda House, DU
Subhendu Dasgupta	Retired faculty, Calcutta University
Subir Rana	Research Scholar, JNU
Suchandra Ghosh	School of Social Sciences, University of Hyderabad
Sucheta Mahajan	Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU
Suchetna Chattopadhyay	Dept of History, Jadavpur University
Sufiyan Abdul Sathar	Calicut
Sujata Patel	Retd. Professor, University of Hyderabad
Sujato Bhadra
Sujeet Kumar	Delhi College for Arts and Commerce, DU
Suparna Puri
Surajit Sarkar	Delhi
Surbhi Vatsa	Miranda House College, DU
Suvritta Khatri	Deshbandhu College, DU
Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi	Professor, Dept. of History, AMU & Secretary, Indian History Congress
Tanu Parashar	Jesus and Mary College, DU
Tasneem Suhrawardy	St. Stephen’s College, DU
Tilak Hazarika	Cotton University, Guwahati
Tilottama Mukharjee	Jadavpur University
Uma Chakrabarti	Historian, DU
Upinder Singh	Ashoka University
Urmimala Sarkar Munsi	JNU
Urvi Mukhopadhyay
Vaibhav Ramani	Ashoka University
Vandana	Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi
Vandna Mathur	University of Delhi
Vani Subramanian	Delhi
Vibhas Chandra Verma	Delhi University
Victoria Potshangbam	Kamala Nehru College, DU
Vijaya Venkataraman	University of Delhi
Vijjika Pandey Singh	ARSD college
Vinita Malik	Kamala Nehru College, DU
Virender Singh	Research Scholar, Panjab University
Vishwa Mohan Jha	Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, DU
Yael Rice	Amherst College
Yasser Arafat	Dept of History, DU
Yousuf Saeed	Jamia Millia Islamia