At a time when some BJP-ruled states are facing allegations of saffronising school textbooks, it has emerged that the state education board in India’s north-Eastern smallest state Tripura has given Indian history a complete miss in its Class 9 text books.
A report by Hindustan Times says that the textbooks do not mention any icon in Indian history expect for Mahatma Gandhi. But then, there is no talk whatsoever of his contribution to India’s freedom movement and he is mentioned only for his views on cricket!
On the other hand, the textbooks have chapters dedicated to Russian and French revolutions, as well as the birth of cricket in England, Nazism and Adolf Hitler.
A December report by The Telegraph too had said how the new syllabus for Class 9 has no reference even to basic Indian history or the freedom struggle against the British.
The report said the first chapters are on European history, the next chapters are about the condition of forest-based tribals during the British rule and the last chapters are on how cricket developed in India and England.
Retired history professor MK Das had then told The Telegraph that “the entire exercise was politically motivated to make students ‘culturally rootless’ CPM cadres for the future“.
A teacher from the state told HT, without being named, that students are taught Karl Marx and Hitler but nothing about Indian freedom fighters.
In their defense, the Tripura Board of Secondary Education officials told HT, “We followed NCERT guidelines for the new history syllabus. Class 9 students used to study Indian history earlier.”
The syllabus would be revised in 2017, but critics say it’ll make no difference.
The state is governed by Communist Party of India (Marxist) – of both Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat are senior leaders – and has Manik Sarcar as chief minister. Sarcar is often called “the poorest” chief minister in the country and, as per a 2013 report by PTI, his personal property was worth less than a meagre Rs 2.5 lakh.
Last year, BJP leader Tathagata Roy was made governor of Tripura, a decision that caused much controversy because Roy, who was a university teacher before joining politics, is an RSS follower.