NCERT textbook row: Dates cannot be erased from history, says Farooq Abdullah

Anantnag (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], April 8 : National Conference President Farooq Abdullah on Saturday said that dates cannot be erased from history even if the government tries to remove chapters of the Mughal era from the school curriculum.

While addressing the media, Farooq Abdullah said, "Dates cannot be erased from history. How can you forget Mughal rulers like Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb, Babur, Akbar, and Jahangir?"

"They have ruled the country for 800 years. No one can forget that. When the public will visit the Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, Red Fort, and Humayun Tomb, what will you tell them? These monuments have got international heritage recognition. So however hard the government tries, it cannot change history," he added.

Earlier National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) Director Dinesh Prasad Sakl had clarified that chapters on Mughals had not been 'dropped' from CBSE books, and said that it's a "lie".

"It's a lie. The chapters on the Mughals have not been dropped. There was a rationalisation process last year because due to COVID, there was pressure on students everywhere," the NCERT director told .

"Along with this, the history of Mughals is being taught in Empires in section-2 of the 11th class book. And in the class 12th book there were 2 chapters on the history of the Mughals, out of which theme nine was removed last year, while theme eight is still being taught to the students. This year no chapter has been removed from any book," he added.

In this regard, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also said that the decision to remove a few chapters from the textbook has been done with political intentions.

"The decision to remove a few chapters and sections from the NCERT textbooks with a political intention is not only a denial of history but also objectionable. Historical facts cannot be rejected by cutting out what is inconvenient to them from textbooks. It is clear that the aim of such measures is to complete the saffronization of the textbooks," he said.