The recent decision by the NCERT to delete or drastically reduce the
mention of the Mughals from the school curriculum marks yet another milestone
in the systematic distortion of Indian history under the ideological
supervision of the ruling regime. Framed as an act of “syllabus
rationalisation,” this move is anything but academic. It is political,
prejudiced, and profoundly detrimental to the intellectual integrity of our
classrooms. It represents not an edit, but an exorcism — one aimed at
sanitising the past to suit the insecurities of the present.
To be clear: no one is suggesting the glorification of emperors or
invaders. History must neither be worshipped nor weaponised. But the selective
erasure of entire dynasties and epochs — in this case, the Mughal Empire —
amounts to historical vandalism in saffron ink. And perhaps most ironically, it
does disservice not only to India’s composite legacy but also to the very
figures the BJP-RSS claim to revere — most notably, Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj.
Shivaji Maharaj vs the Mughals: A Legacy Rooted in
Resistance
Let us begin by acknowledging a truth that even this ideological regime
cannot rewrite: Shivaji Maharaj was one of the greatest sons of India. A master
tactician, an astute administrator, and a fierce patriot long before the word
gained currency, Shivaji carved out a sovereign space against the might of the
Mughal Empire. His battles with Aurangzeb are legendary not because the Mughals
were weak or evil, but because they were powerful, dominant, and yet could not
extinguish his spirit of swarajya.
To erase the Mughals from history is to erase the very backdrop against
which Shivaji's courage was cast. He was not a rebel without a cause; he was a
lion standing firm in the face of an empire. His resistance becomes legendary
only when we understand the scale and nature of the power he defied. Take that
context away, and you reduce his valour to a hollow abstraction — something the
RSS may not realise in its ideological zeal.
Mughals: Flawed, But Foundational
Let us not whitewash the Mughals. Like all empires, they were complex and
often oppressive. There were wars, conquests, bigotry, and bloodshed. But there
was also syncretism, architectural marvels, administrative reforms, artistic
patronage, and a profound impact on India’s cultural and linguistic tapestry.
Urdu, Hindustani classical music, Indo-Islamic art and architecture — these are
not foreign artifacts imposed upon India but integral threads in the fabric of
our civilization.
Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb — each played a role
in shaping the subcontinent’s political and cultural contours. To edit them out
is not "rationalisation" but revenge — a cultural form of vigilantism
that seeks to avenge imagined historical wrongs by inflicting real intellectual
damage on the next generation.
NCERT and the Politics of History
This brings us to the heart of the matter. The NCERT’s choices are not
being guided by historians, educators, or researchers — but by ideologues who
see history as a field to be conquered. The current regime, driven by the RSS’s
foundational worldview, views the past not as a shared inheritance but as a
minefield of communal narratives that must be rewritten, recast, and, when
necessary, removed.
History becomes not a subject to be studied, but a narrative to be
controlled. When Mughal emperors are deleted and Hindu rulers are
decontextualised and selectively glorified, what emerges is not education — but
engineered amnesia.
This is not new. In Nazi Germany, textbooks were rewritten to instill
racial superiority and demonise minorities. In Stalinist Russia, history books
routinely deleted leaders who had fallen out of favour. What connects these
authoritarian projects is the belief that control over the past is essential
for control over the future. The classroom becomes a shakha — not a space for
critical thinking but for ideological conformity.
A Syllabus of Silence
The practical implication of these deletions is chilling. Students will now
grow up with a fractured understanding of India’s past. They will know of
Shivaji but not the empire he resisted. They will read about 1947 without the
centuries that shaped it. They will be fed myths in place of methods, slogans
instead of sources.
Worse, this curricular cleansing fosters a dangerous communal binary —
Hindus as perpetual victims, Muslims as eternal invaders. It legitimises the
kind of bigotry that now flourishes in social media echo chambers, street
corner speeches, and even Parliament. By demonising the Muslim past, the regime
seeks to normalise anti-Muslim politics in the present.
The Legal and Constitutional Betrayal
As a lawyer, I cannot help but reflect on the constitutional implications.
Article 51A(h) of the Constitution enjoins every citizen “to develop the
scientific temper, humanism and the spirit of inquiry and reform.” What happens
when the State itself sabotages this duty by tampering with the truth? When
education becomes a tool of indoctrination, the State violates not just
academic ethics but constitutional morality.
The Supreme Court, in Aruna Roy v. Union of India, rightly held that
“secularism implies that the State must remain equidistant from all religions
and treat them with equal respect.” What respect is shown when one community’s
contributions to Indian civilization are scrubbed from the public record?
What Must Be Remembered
This is not a call to romanticise the past. It is a call to confront it —
with all its contradictions and complexities. Shivaji and Akbar, Bhagat Singh
and Bahadur Shah Zafar, Gandhi and Ambedkar — these are not opposing sides in a
civilizational war. They are co-authors of India’s story. You cannot build a
new India by burning the pages of the old.
The Mughals should be taught — critically, contextually, comprehensively.
Their failings should be exposed, but so should their contributions. Likewise,
Shivaji Maharaj should be celebrated — not as a communal mascot but as a
national hero. He deserves better than to be conscripted into a false binary by
those who reduce history to a slogan.
Conclusion: Let Our Children Learn
The challenge before us is not just about textbooks. It is about the soul
of education in India. Do we want thinking citizens or obedient followers? Do
we want a generation that knows how to question power — or one that chants what
power demands?
The answer will not come from courts or classrooms alone. It must come from
civil society, academia, the media, and every citizen who values truth over
tribe, inquiry over identity. We must resist the rewriting of our history — not
just for the sake of the past, but for the sanity of the future.
Let our children inherit facts, not fictions. Let them learn from Shivaji —
and from the Mughals too. Let them understand India in its full, plural,
painful, and powerful truth. That is the only history worth teaching.
The author, Siddhartha Shankar Mishra, is an Advocate at the Supreme Court
of India. He writes on law, politics, and society with a focus on democratic
accountability, civil liberties, and ideological critique. He can be reached at
ssmishra33@gmail.com.
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