Maharana Pratap Now Also a Part of New NCERT History Textbooks 

Shiv Sena and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti had criticised the previous version of the textbook for “glorifying Mughal emperors” and “ignoring Hindu kings”.

Maharana Pratap of Mewar has been introduced as the one ruler who did not give in to Mughal authority. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

New Delhi: Months after the Maharashtra education board reduced the Mughal emperor’s reign to just three lines in school textbooks, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has now decided to follow its lead by revising its history textbook content.

The revision was initiated after Shiv Sena and Hindu Janajagruti Samiti criticised the previous textbook for “glorifying Mughal emperors” and “ignoring Hindu kings”, Indian Express reported.

Apart from adding information on Shivaji in its class VII history textbook, NCERT – an autonomous body that advises the HRD Ministry on school education – has also introduced material on the Rajput king Maharana Pratap.

The changes are part of the textbook review undertaken in 2017 by the NCERT – the first since 2007.

Last year, the Shiv Sena and the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti had submitted separate petitions to the Maharashtra government reiterating their longstanding demand for revision in the history textbook titled Our Past – II. According to Indian Express, both the organisations alleged that the class VII history textbook had several pages dedicated to Mughal rulers, while Shivaji and Maharana Pratap did not get sufficient play.

The Hindu organisation further noted that while the textbook carried “photos of atrocious, tyrannical Muslim kings, Babar and his descendants," no pictures of Shivaji figured in it.

This is not the first time that textbook revisions are being made to suit a particular ideology and politics of ruling parties at the Centre and in states. Social sciences – particularly the discipline of history – has always been a soft target in such cases. Educationists have time and again pointed out that such random tampering of school textbooks, with scant regard for historic authenticity, lead to gross distortions in the subject.

For instance, the Hindustan Times earlier reported that the recent controversy around Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Padmaavat has led the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) to consider removing some controversial references to Padmini, the queen of Chittor, from history textbooks.

The RBSE is reportedly revising the textbook content before the new academic session begins in April. "People familiar with the matter at the board said some changes have been made with regard to content on Padmini, the queen of Rawal Ratan Singh, the 14th-century ruler of Chittor," said the report.

Last June, the history department of Rajasthan University included in its syllabus a book claiming Maharana Pratap defeated emperor Akbar in the Battle of Haldighati, further claiming that he was the only “national element” who didn’t sell himself to the Mughal ruler.

The new NCERT textbook as well makes similar claims.

The Rajput ruler's introduction comes in the light of the Union home minister of the BJP-led NDA government urging historians to re-evaluate the contribution of the Rajput warrior last May. “I am surprised that historians called Akbar as great but not Pratap. What shortcoming did they notice in Pratap that he was not referred to as ‘the Great’,” the Indian Express quoted Rajnath Singh as saying.

NCERT has made about roughly 1,334 changes in varied textbooks, with the maximum, over 500, being made to science books.

According to Indian Express, for the next academic session, NCERT has included BJP-associated schemes of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and Digital India in textbooks across different subjects. The December 2016 note ban has also found a mention in class XI economics textbook.

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