– Dr. Shadab Munawar Moosa
When children open a history book, they expect to find the past. But what if what they see is a carefully constructed lie? Across the world, regimens are redrawing the past, some quietly and some brazenly. They are not correcting it. They’re corrupting it. It’s not just the erasure of history but an act of erasing complexity, plurality, killing critical thinking, silencing dissent and glorifying power.
Changes in history textbooks have become a routine phenomenon now. It started way back in 1977-79, during the Janata Party government led by Morarji Desai. The most hotly contested issue in this controversy was the depiction of Mughal-era India and the role of Islam in India. The books by Thapar, Chandra, and Mukhia (leftist and liberal historians) were labelled “anti-Indian and anti-national.” Then came the NDA era, led by the BJP – an attempt to change the NCERT textbooks through the New Curriculum Framework. [Engineer, Asghar Ali (1985). Indian Muslims: A Study of the Minority Problem in India, Ajanta Publications, p. 209]
Now, since 2014, the ruling dispensation has made several changes to the curriculum and NCERT textbooks, to name a few, renaming the 2002 Gujarat riots from ‘Anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat’ to just ‘Gujarat Riots’ in 2017, erasure of certain chapters related to the 16th and 17th century Mughal courts. From the class 10 Democratic Politics-II textbooks, chapters like ‘Democracy and diversity’, ‘Popular struggles and movement’, and ‘Challenges to democracy’ have been removed. [https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/cbse-drops-chapters-on-islamic-empires-cold-war-from-syllabus-verses-of-faiz-also-excluded/article65347859.ece]
References to Dalit writer Omprakash Valmiki have been removed from the social science textbooks of Classes 7 and 8 as part of the latest revision. The deletions also affected Biology and Chemistry textbooks. [https://thewire.in/education/biology-without-darwin-next-physics-without-newton-and-einstein]
In April 2024, the NCERT revised its Political Science curriculum for grades 11 and 12. The revisions resulted in the omission of references to the Babri Masjid demolition, the Gujarat riots, and the role of Hindutva in Indian politics. [https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/text-book-revision-ncert-drops-some-references-to-babri-demolition-gujarat-riots-manipur/article68031445.ece]
On July 16, 2025, NCERT released a revised Class 8 Social Science textbook that sparked significant controversy. The book described Babur as a “brutal and ruthless conqueror, slaughtering entire populations of cities,” and Akbar as a ruler whose reign combined both brutality and tolerance. [https://indianexpress.com/article/education/ncert-social-science-textbook-class-8-new-book-flags-brutality-of-mughals-with-no-blame-disclaimer-10128998/]
The NCERT portrays Mughals as “brutal rulers” because of the wars they fought. But wasn’t this true for every Indian king? Take Rajendra Chola, for example, when he attacked the Chalukya capital of Mayakheta, burned and demolished the city of Kopakkai, and destroyed ancient Jain temples at Pulikaranagara. The same Class 8 book has a chapter on the Marathas, but skips over the atrocities committed by them in Bengal in 1741 and 1751. [https://youtu.be/n0L2_YnKBAc?si=gTyzGb4ntXC2HTaQ] Does the Class 8 textbook intend to teach students that only the Mughals were brutal or cruel?
Also, references to Tipu Sultan, Hyder Ali and the four Anglo–Mysore Wars were removed. [https://indianexpress.com/article/education/ncert-social-science-textbook-new-class-8-book-chapter-on-colonial-era-skips-tipu-sultan-anglo-mysore-wars-10131402/] This was a brief history of NCERT textbook revisions and rewritings in India. This article explores a much deeper question. Why regimes rewrite history textbooks – and why the cost isn’t just academic. It’s generational.
Understanding Power/Knowledge complex
Why is Michael Foucault central to understanding the issue of textbook revisions? Foucault clarified the intertwined nature of power and knowledge – knowledge is never neutral or innocent. The institutions of schools and textbooks shape what society accepts as “truth,” meaning that you get to define what is true. When a government decides what curriculum children will learn, it exercises power by defining truth. It shapes what children believe is normal, what they consider Indian, and whom they perceive as enemies. Textbooks aren’t just educational tools; they are ideological blueprints. Foucault warned that when power controls knowledge, it also shapes identity, morality, and belonging.
By rewriting history in textbooks, you create or aim to create a political legitimacy for a particular ideology, portraying it as the sole inheritor of the legacy of ancient India while erasing its plural values and shared contexts. When you curate a history and present it to the young, you diminish their ability for critical analysis. Emphasising ancient Hindu civilisation as the true cultural foundation of modern India supports the modern political project of Hindu nationalism. It creates a binary of us versus them, which easily transforms into a vote bank. This downplays India’s secular fabric and understanding rooted in constitutionalism.
Such an attitude fosters a generation whose outlook is rooted in narrow communalism. They grow up viewing the world through polarised lenses. When history is presented as a flat line in an ECG, which is equivalent to no life, so too is history like an ECG – if there are no ups and downs and no complexity, there is no life or activity. This weakens young people’s ability for critical thinking. What is the problem with this? A child raised this way, when growing up and facing alternative perspectives, has a low tolerance for them and struggles to handle ambiguity in real life. For example, a schoolmate or college peer who is Muslim is always seen as the “other.” A teacher who presents accurate history is perceived as someone with a “liberal” or “leftist” agenda. Historical debates of any kind make him feel like his identity is under attack. Such a generation, bred on this kind of curriculum, develops civic passivity and partisan loyalty.
Their sense of justice seems affected, sometimes showing indifference to injustices faced by others. For instance, they might consider it acceptable for a teacher to ask to slap a Muslim child by his classmates. Acts of marginalisation and violence against Muslim citizens may seem normal and justified from their perspective. This outlook has been reinforced by a sanitised and communal curriculum, which creates a strong feeling of being constantly, deeply victimised.
This is the power of the textbook. It shapes the future generations’ morality, ethics and civic behaviour. With suitable instigation, a fostered sense of identity with one group of people can be made into a powerful weapon to brutalise another.
Politicised History Syllabus and Muslim Children
Now, let’s focus on the internal aspects of the Muslim community. Imagine a Muslim kid entering school and learning a distorted history where his identity is linked with all the negative connotations. When he sees that Muslims are often portrayed negatively, associated with violence, brutality, and his faith becomes a subject of ridicule and constant scrutiny, the child will be torn between feelings of pride in his faith and culture and the shame caused by official narratives. For the Muslim community, it’s not just about their nation but also their generations. It fosters an internalised sense of inferiority. Constant portrayals of Muslims as a negative stereotype implant in his mind the idea that their community has no positive contributions in the past.
Fear of being stereotyped is another adverse effect of such a curriculum. It makes students timid and causes them to hide their identity just to “fit in”. As Oscar Wilde said, “Most people are other people.” “Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passion a quotation.”
Their sense of belonging gets distorted. When they learn that their ancestors were always portrayed as “outsiders”, Muslim children may feel like permanent outsiders in their own country – a state of psychological homelessness. This is the appalling effect of the miniaturisation of people, and it calls for a serious re-examination and reassessment of the situation.
The Manufactured Muslim Prototype
We need our voice. There have been subaltern voices, voices of the marginalised, and those from the left and liberal perspectives, but all of these combined may not be sufficient, as genuine representation comes from voices within. We need a MUSLIM HISTORY NARRATIVE, and not just a sub-voice within a larger framework, because the Muslim existence and how it perceives itself are essential. Their civilisational presence within the broader plural dynamics of India is unique, which not only needs to be heard but also seriously considered. History academia must focus on this. Because it’s not just about academic credibility; it’s about the integrity of a voice. Muslim history in India has faced yet another pressing issue, the ideological cage of “Acceptable” Muslim History.
In the mundane flow of news and opinions, daily YouTube analyses, Muslim seclusion, or the erasure of history often take centre stage. People come forward to defend and represent Muslims. All liberals, leftists, and subaltern schools of history proudly claim to “give voice” to Muslim history. But that voice is only allowed if it aligns with their ideological framework. They aim to create a “Model Muslim” from history. Akbar the Tolerant is included. Dara Shikoh, the mystic, is celebrated. But Tipu Sultan’s mix of reform, warfare, and religious policy? Too complicated. You can’t call it representation. It’s curation. Real history is complex, full of contradictions, moral gray zones, and power struggles. A simplified portrait of history is as harmful as right-wing erasure. It strips Muslims of their historical agency by turning their history into a propaganda tool. What seems like inclusion is selection. Muslims need their voice. Now, to conclude, let’s ponder what parents and teachers can do in their capacity.
What Parents and Teachers can and should Do
- No one is responsible for your child as you are. You have to be their teacher at home. It’s not optional but a compulsory duty to supplement the curriculum with complete history. Introduce them to credible historical sources beyond the syllabus. Read with them yourself and teach them. Find documentaries that present Indian Muslim history in all its richness. Highlight Muslim contributions in art, architecture, science, literature, politics, and the freedom struggle.
- Teach them that history is always complex, and this is normal. No community’s history is entirely heroic or villainous. Every empire and ruler, regardless of their religion, has had achievements and failures.
- Encourage critical thinking from a young age. Teach them to ask: Who wrote this? Why might they have chosen to tell it this way? What’s missing? That is the greatest service you can do for your kids and your country.
- Teach them to be confident and proud. Help them nurture friendships with classmates of other faiths. Teach them to communicate with their classmates and friends about their Muslim identity and choices without defensiveness. Show them that truth and fairness have supporters across religious lines.
- Let the children see that faith and national belonging can coexist.
