Gujarat history textbooks admire efficiency of Nazis

Asian Age, 30 May, 2000

Gujarat history textbooks admire efficiency of Nazis By Shahid Faridi, New Delhi, May 29 The Union human resources development ministry?s refusal to look into the distorted and divisive history being taught in schools and colleges in states on the plea that education is a state subject and, therefore, it cannot interfere with their curriculum has created a piquant situation. Social studies textbooks for Class 10 students in Gujarat present a frighteningly uncritical picture of Fascism and Nazism; Class 9 text of the same state terms Muslims, Christians and Parsis as foreigners; recommended texts at the graduation level in Maharashtra say Islam teaches only atrocities; Class 9 and 10 history books in Assam are full of communal distortions and discuss the question of Assamese language in an extremely chauvinistic way and, according to Class 12 textbooks in Tamil Nadu, Emperor Akbar passed several ordinances against Islam, kept swine and dogs in his harem, prohibited Ramzan and the pilgrimage to Mecca and made the study of Arabic a crime. When his attention was drawn to these distortions by members of the HRD ministry?s standing committee, among others, Union HRD minister Murli Manohar Joshi said he does not have the power to interfere with textbooks issued by the states. The minister showed no interest even in setting up a national steering committee to evaluate the textbooks in states. In the past, the Union government from time to time set up committees to evaluate textbooks to ensure that objectionable material is removed. The state governments have always paid attention to the ?advice,? ?suggestions? or ?recommendations? of the Union government in these matters. The contents of textbooks have never been entirely left to the state governments But the present HRD minister does not seem interested in improving the quality of education in states. Mr Joshi, in fact, refused to extend the term of the Bipin Chandra Committee set up to evaluate the state textbooks and, thereby, prevented it from making full and final recommendations. Members of Opposition political parties who are part of the HRD standing committee told The Asian Age that they are not putting pressure on the HRD minister for setting up an evaluation committee as ?the minister would pack such a committee with communal elements who would be vulnerable to government pressure.? With the Union government and Opposition parties dragging their feet on this crucial issue, ?the young students in states are being fed a distorted version of history,? says a prominent historian. In a social studies text for Class 10 students in Gujarat, the strong national pride that Nazism and Fascism generated, the efficiency in the bureaucracy and the administration and other ?achievements? are detailed, but the violent and uncivilised politics of exclusion - of Jews, trade unionists, migrant labourers, and of any section that did not fit into Mussolini or Hitler's definition of rightful citizen - does not find any mention. There are many other states where textbooks contain objectionable portions.

"A brother had written a letter to me, asking me about Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi in Ayodhya ... the religious places of Hindus that are in Muslim control should be gladly yielded to the Hindus." M. K. Gandhi, instructing Muslims to hand over Babri Masjid to Hindu Fascists, Navjeevan, 27 July 1937.	" Paranoid writers like Patanjali ... Aurobindo ... [etc.] were responsible for spreading false beliefs among the masses." Dr. Abraham T. Kovoor, `Gods, Demons and Spirits' , ed. V.A.Menon, Jaico Publishing House, Bombay 1990, p.50
" If he [ a Sudra ] arrogantly teaches Brahmins their duty, the king shall cause hot oil to be poured into his mouth and into his ears." Manu Smrti VIII.272

Nehru : "Hitler ... represented ... a Progressive Order"

	" ...this can be said to his [Hitler's] credit that he represents something against the defunct order.... Hitler, in the way he dealt with unemployment, which England and America failed to solve, represented some elements of a progressive order. " Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru' XII, 134.
Second War of Independance

" Your organisation [ RSS ] is certainly very good." M.K.Gandhi to Hegdewar the Brahmin, Founder of RSS , `Gandhiji's visit to RSS camp', Organiser, 26 January 1969; & http://www.rss.org/rss/www/admcrit/gandhi-visit.htm

"A brother had written a letter to me, asking me about Shri Ram Janma Bhoomi in Ayodhya ... the religious places of Hindus that are in Muslim control should be gladly yielded to the Hindus." M. K. Gandhi, instructing Muslims to hand over Babri Masjid to Hindu Fascists, Navjeevan, 27 July 1937.	" Paranoid writers like Patanjali ... Aurobindo ... [etc.] were responsible for spreading false beliefs among the masses." Dr. Abraham T. Kovoor, `Gods, Demons and Spirits' , ed. V.A.Menon, Jaico Publishing House, Bombay 1990, p.50
" If he [ a Sudra ] arrogantly teaches Brahmins their duty, the king shall cause hot oil to be poured into his mouth and into his ears." Manu Smrti VIII.272