All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday slammed the NCERT for modifying references related to the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in textbooks that was demolished by 'kar sevaks' on December 6, 1992.
advertisementOwaisi, in a post on X, said that children should know about the demolition of Babri Masjid and that they should not grow up "glorifying criminal acts".
"The NCERT has decided to replace Babri Masjid with the words 'three-domed structure'.
India’s children should know that the Supreme Court called the demolition of Babri Masjid an 'egregious criminal act'," he tweeted.
He said that references to the Gujarat riots and the Babri Masjid demolition were modified in school textbooks because teaching about riots "can create violent and depressed citizens".
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday slammed the NCERT for modifying references related to the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in textbooks that was demolished by 'kar sevaks' on December 6, 1992.
The NCERT is in the middle of a fresh controversy again after it revised the Class 12 Political Science textbook and removed the term "Babri Masjid", which has now been referred to as a "three-domed structure" in the new edition.
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Owaisi, in a post on X, said that children should know about the demolition of Babri Masjid and that they should not grow up "glorifying criminal acts".
"The NCERT has decided to replace Babri Masjid with the words 'three-domed structure'. It has also decided to call the Ayodhya judgment an example of 'consensus'. India’s children should know that the Supreme Court called the demolition of Babri Masjid an 'egregious criminal act'," he tweeted.
"India’s children should know that a functioning masjid was desecrated in 1949 and then demolished by a mob in 1992. They should not grow up glorifying criminal acts," the Hyderabad MP said.
The NCERT has pruned the Ayodhya section from four to two pages and deleted details from the earlier version.
The latest deletions in the textbook included: BJP's 'rath yatra' from Somnath in Gujarat to Ayodhya; the role of 'kar sevaks'; communal violence in the wake of the demolition of the Babri Masjid; President's rule in BJP-ruled states; and the BJP's expression of "regret over the happenings at Ayodhya".
The new political science textbook of Class 11, now says that political parties "give priority to the interests of a minority group" with an eye on "vote bank politics", which leads to "minority appeasement".
The Opposition hit out at the NCERT, alleging that it was functioning as an affiliate of RSS, the ideological mentor of BJP, and hiding "inconvenient facts" from students.
NCERT director Dinesh Prasad Saklani rejected accusations of saffronisation of the school curriculum and said the modifications in textbooks were part of the annual revision and should not be a subject of hue and cry.
He said that references to the Gujarat riots and the Babri Masjid demolition were modified in school textbooks because teaching about riots "can create violent and depressed citizens".
(with inputs from PTI)
