LUCKNOW: Intellectuals got together at the Jaishankar Prasad Sabhagar on Sept.8, to discuss “communalization” of education, in the wake of the changes in textbooks announced by the UP Education Minister recently.
These changes include the view that Baqi, a minister of Babar, had broken a Ram temple and built a mosque in its place, the view that Arya did not migrate from outside India and the life story of the founder of RSS Hedgewar. Prof Verma said that the BJP and its allied wings wish to inculcate in children, a communal mentality by propagating such views and that such attempts to deprive the children of actual facts would have dangerous repercussions.
Prof Verma said after the SCERT conference, which was held in April this year, the Nagarik Dharma Samaj had written to many leading historians of the country seeking their opinion on the view that the Aryans were the original inhabitants of India. In response, several historians like Dr.R.S. Sharma and Dr. K.N. Panikkar had informed that the evidence in favor of the view that Aryans did not originally belong to India was strong. Dr. Verma emphasized the need to oppose the announced changes in the text-books.
Many other speakers threw light on the revivalist and reactionary elements in the political philosophy of the present government of the state and disfavored the changes announced by the Education Minister, Ajay Singh described these changes as an attempt to establish the Brahminical and communal ideology of RSS and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. He said that these changes attack our composite culture. Dr.Hiranmay Dhar objected to the manner in which the changes were announced. He emphasized the need for a debate among teachers and scholars on these issues before bringing the changes into effect. He also cautioned against the dangers of state control on history writing and disapproved of accepting any change without first ensuring that the fundamentalist and communal forces would not be able to appropriate them in their favor.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 25, 1992
