A court in Jaipur has issued notice to the Federal Ministry of Education and the Director of the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) over the “glorification of Mughal Emperors” in a history textbook for Year 12 (students at the age of 16 and 18).
P C Bhandari, who filed the petition, said that the Year 12 history book “Themes in Indian History” states that Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb paid grants to repair temples that were demolished during the wars.
The petition sought to remove facts that glorify Mughals and sought a ban on printing and publishing the substantive part in the history book. Admitting the complaint, the court has ordered officials of the federal education ministry and NCERT to present their reply by 19 April.
“All Mughal Emperors gave grants to support the maintenance of places of worship. Even when temples were destroyed during the wars, grants were later issued for their repairs – as we know from the reigns of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb,” the textbook states.
Bhandari filed a Right to Information Act (RTI) query, seeking to know where the history book is getting its information. The head of the Department of Public Information replied to the RTI query that they had no proof to substantiate the printed matter.
However, Saiyid Zaheer Husain Jafri, a Professor at the Department of History at Delhi University, says there is enough evidence to substantiate the fact of grants given for temples.
“There are hundreds of surviving documents, published and cited which show that Mughal emperors gave grants and funds for maintenance, preservation and upkeep of temples.
“It is a well-established fact in history. NCERT books are for students up to Year 12 and do not give citations or footnotes.”
Speaking about the controversy around the issue, Professor Jafri said that the line taken by political parties is that Mughal rule was a Muslim rule and the rulers were anti-Hindu.
“Anything that goes against this narrative is not acceptable to them but this is not a simple issue – it is complex. Those using social handles are mostly the urban elite and sadly not very well informed,” the professor added.
The governing Bharatiya Janata Party has been continually trying to erase India’s Muslim Mughal past – from renaming buildings, streets and cities to editing history textbooks. Muslim rulers of the Mughal dynasty had a rich cultural impact on the country as they ruled the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1500s to the beginning of the 1700s.
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Rushda Fathima Khan is the Staff Reporter for The Cognate.
