INDIA, December 4, 2005: HPI Note: We share parts of this interesting article from the weekly publication of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), “People’s Democracy.” For those in the West who don’t realize communism is alive and well in India, visit their web site, here. Though datelined December 4, it was written before the California Curriculum Commission meeting on December 2 which rejected nearly all the recommendations of the “renowned historians” mentioned hereunder.
Some excerpts:
The battle over secular texts on Indian history for schools and a rational view of the past is not confined to the matter of NCERT textbooks in India. More recently the RSS inspired organizations and the Hindutva lobbyists in the US have been over-active in attempting to change school textbooks in the state of California. That they have not had a walk-over is thanks to the vigilance and commitment of the many academics involved in Indian studies all over the world, who have solidly opposed these moves.
The proposed changes in favor of the Hindutva view of Indian history and culture in the school texts became known only on November 5, 2005. Some of the individuals who had been asked to sign a memorandum, prepared by The Vedic Foundation, got alarmed and were alert enough to write to Professor Witzel of Harvard University, who has been consistently and publicly writing against the Hindutva concoctions of history. Thereafter the matter snowballed into a controversy at November 9 public hearing when a letter from Professor Michael Witzel was submitted to the Board of Education informing them of the motivations of the Hindutva efforts and requesting them to reject the Hindutva-recommended changes.
The State of California is now in the final stages of approving the history/social science textbooks for grade 6-8 in schools. This exercise takes place periodically and a number of publishers submit their books for approval and selection on these occasions to the Department of Education. It is at this stage this year that two Hindutva organizations based in the US, the Hindu Education Foundation and the Vedic Foundation, submitted what they argued were necessary “corrections” to be made in the textbooks approved, and Shiva Bajpai, a Hindutva-leaning advisor to the California Board of Education, succeeded in getting virtually all the changes requested by them approved by an ad hoc committee of the State Board of education.
Professor Witzel and Professor Steve Farmer, along with fifty other academics, including renowned Indian historians Romila Thapar, DN Jha and Shereen Ratnagar, have written to Ruth Green, president, State Board of Education, California, on behalf of “world specialists on ancient India,” reflecting “mainstream academic opinion in India, Pakistan, the United States, Europe, Australia, Taiwan and Japan,” to “reject the demands by nationalist Hindu (Hindutva) groups” that California textbooks be altered to conform to their religious-political views.” They have pointed out that “the proposed revisions are not of a scholarly, but of a religious-political nature and are primarily promoted by Hindutva supporters and non-specialist academics writing about issues far outside their areas of expertise,” and that “these views not reflect the views of majority of the specialists on ancient Indian history, nor of majority of the Hindus.”
Their letter also says that these proposed ‘corrections’ are motivated by political agendas discriminatory to millions of people in India, especially the minorities, lower castes and women, and that they have been debated thoroughly and rejected in India as well by academics and secular political forces. They have clearly warned that the endorsement of the views of these Hindutva so-called scholars by the California State Board of Education would cause a virtual international scandal.
To strengthen the secular position a petition has also been circulated on the internet and signatures are pouring in every day. They have also appealed to the public at large that “If you believe in teaching California’s children true history and culture of India, it is very important for you to attend the public hearing on December 1 and 2 in Sacramento and voice your opinion rejecting the Hindutva-recommended changes.” The major demand is that no changes should be made in textbooks at the behest of any organization/individual other than the distinguished panel of scholars the Board has been working with since November 9.
A look at the specific changes demanded by the Hindutva organizations would show them to be integral to the Sangh Parivar political agenda, and very similar to what the BJP government was trying to do here with the NCERT syllabus and the NCERT textbooks in social sciences, particularly history.
This entire effort is part of the RSS’s larger goal to “educate” the Hindu children brought up in the US to be “good Hindus” and to “learn the truth about Indian history and culture,” no doubt assisting in the search for “roots” and “anchor” that the Hindu youth –like the other immigrants–hanker for! That these children could become Hindutva’s international support one day is one thing; they could well become its victims right now if the powerful Hindutva organizations in the US are allowed to have their way.