Presenting historical facts without distortion encourages students to think critically about the past, grasp the complexities of historical events and promotes cultural awareness and tolerance. | Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockPhoto
Recently, I came across a cartoon titled “History for Peace” depicting a student studying a book called “History of India – Revised Edition.” The room is illuminated by a table lamp labelled “NCERT” (National Council of Educational Research and Training). Both the book and the lamp are saffron-coloured. The text below reads: “Bapu died peacefully on January 30, 1948, with God’s name on his lips. A truly blessed life.” This powerful cartoon is a classic example of historical distortion. It indirectly suggests that Mahatma Gandhi (Bapu), the Father of the Nation, died a natural death, omitting the crucial fact that he was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu fanatic.
Distortion of history is not new in India. Over the past decade, it has been discussed and debated numerous times in mainstream and social media. Recently, the controversy surrounding the revised NCERT textbooks has been widely covered, following the threat by academics Yogendra Yadav and Suhas Palshikar of taking legal action against the NCERT for publishing new textbooks under their names without consent. “Both of us do not want the NCERT to hide behind our names to pass on to students such textbooks of political science that we find politically biased, academically indefensible and pedagogically dysfunctional,” the letter said.
