New Delhi: The National Council of Educational Research and Training has claimed that not declaring key deletions in the syllabus for 2023-24 – including Hindu extremists’ attitude towards Gandhi, the ban on RSS and the impact of Gandhi’s pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity – was an “oversight.”A day ago Indian Express had reported (with its headline boldly struck through on the frontpage) that key portions had been deleted from the political science books taught to Class 12 students for more than 15 years without any mention of them by the NCERT in the “list of rationalised content” officially released in June last year.Among lines and paragraphs deleted were those which dealt with how Gandhi was “particularly disliked by those who wanted Hindus to take revenge or who wanted India to become a country for the Hindus, just as Pakistan was for Muslims,” how Gandhi’s pursuit of Hindu-Muslim unity provoked Hindu extremists to attempt to assassinate him, and how his death led to a crackdown against organisations spreading communal hatred and the ban on the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.From a Class 12 history textbook, references to Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse as a Pune Brahmin who edited a Hindu extremist paper which called Gandhi a “Muslim appeaser” were removed.A day after the revelation of these quiet deletions made news, NCERT director Dinesh Saklanisaid that their omission from the rationalisation list could have been an oversight and urged that it not be blown out of proportion.Times of India quoted Saklani as having said, “The subject expert panel had recommended dropping of certain texts on Gandhi. It was accepted last year only. It was not mentioned in the list of rationalised content due to oversight. It should not be blown out of proportion. Nothing can be omitted overnight, there are proper procedures and professional ethics have to be followed. There is nothing intentional.”The report says that Saklani was asked if there have been more surreptitious deletions, including in other subjects, and said, “We will notify them shortly.To The Hindu, Saklani said that the process of rationalisation of content happened during the COVID-19 pandemic and that changes have also been made to maths, science and commerce textbooks.The TOI report adds that, “There also indications that NCERT is digging in its heels on the issue and apart from notifying the changes, it can also field subject experts to justify them.”The report on these deletions going notified arrived amidst outrage over the discovery that revised NCERT history books for Class 12 has dropped chapters on the Mughal empire, the 2002 Gujarat riots and popular movements.
