A school textbook claiming that Mughal rulers had helped build and maintain temples has sparked outrage online. An NCERT history textbook for Class 12 had cited the reigns of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb to say that even when temples were destroyed during wars, “grants were later issued for their repair”. And while this had irked many, the fact that NCERT seems unable to back up the statement has now caused an all-out tweet war.
“This is the biggest fraud with our country unearthed,” read a rather dramatic tweet. Many however appear to be unsure about who to hold responsible, with some believing that NCERT is the culprit. With the National Council of Educational Research and Training being an autonomous organisation of the government, it appears to be unclear who should be hauled up for the same. But this has not deterred netizens, and others are busy blaming political parties – both the UPA and the NDA.
As the debate continued, an RTI query was filed, seeking the source of the claim published in the textbook. And the widely shared RTI response reveals that the organisation does not have any information available for the same in its Department files.
“Aurangzeb protected more Hindu temples than he destroyed. He employed more Hindus in his imperial administration than any prior Mughal ruler by a fair margin,” contended historian Audrey Truschke recently. And with the NCERT controversy adding fuel to an already debated topic, many have focused their ire on her.
“Can’t expect better from a historian whose primary source is Wikipedia. Don’t throw Western terminological concoctions like ancient, medieval, pre-modern, modern, post-modern which have no relevance to the Orient. Issue is not Aurangzeb’s temporality but his genocidal bigotry,” tweeted former IPS officer M Nageswara Rao. He followed this up with the NCERT RTI response to back up his comments.
Here?is National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) which prepares textbooks, admitting about spreading falsehood as history through textbooks which are prepared by fakeries of your ilk. https://t.co/6N41dqfJ8n pic.twitter.com/MKTNzEZKuZ
— M. Nageswara Rao IPS(R) (@MNageswarRaoIPS) January 13, 2021
“All NCERT History text books were got written by JNU History department by the UPA 1 – complete Leftist propaganda. Bonfire of these books is long overdue,” tweeted retired IAS officer Sanjay Dixit.
All NCERT History text books were got written by JNU History department by the UPA 1 – complete Leftist propaganda. Bonfire of these books is long overdue. https://t.co/H7gSXJhPEy
— Sanjay Dixit ಸಂಜಯ್ ದೀಕ್ಷಿತ್ संजय दीक्षित (@Sanjay_Dixit) January 14, 2021
The RSS-affiliated Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas has also deposed before a Parliamentary Standing Committee about “distortions” in the NCERT textbooks. According to an Indian Express report, the organisation had been invited to depose on textbook reforms and to suggest the removal of “un-historical facts and distortions”.
Take a look at some of the Twitter comments on the topic:
This is the biggest fraud with our country unearthed. Center education agency #NCERT accepted in RTI that it has no documentation that proves that #Mughals rebuilt the temples they have destroyed
Its been six years but still fake history taught in school & colleges, until when? pic.twitter.com/bsRa4RrApC
— CA Ashutosh Soni (@CA_AshutoshSoni) January 14, 2021
Chola, chalukya, pallava, Rajupt, Maurya, Sung, Gupt… we have so many Great kings but our NCERT books glorified Mughals only why??? @EduMinOfIndia @DrRPNishank @ncert pic.twitter.com/JForO18twt
— #DestroyedTemples (@Adrashya_) January 13, 2021
So a RTI was filed in NCERT to disclose the source of the claim in NCERT books that Hindu temples destroyed by the Mughal armies were repaired by the Mughal grants once the war was over. NCERT reply: information not available! pic.twitter.com/U24Lekkvz7
— Abhinav Prakash (@Abhina_Prakash) January 13, 2021
Let's #BurnNCERTHistoryBooks and ask @ncert to write #TrueHistory. @PMOIndia @HMOIndia @DrRPNishank pic.twitter.com/P433tQAuUs
— Neeraj Atri (@AtriNeeraj) January 13, 2021
The information is "not available" in the @ncert files because it doesn't exist? The real question is why did the authors insert such dubious claims in our history books in the first place & who "instructed" them to do so? https://t.co/doJxJPrq5P
— Makarand R Paranjape (@MakrandParanspe) January 13, 2021
Source: Free Press Journal