`No' to censorship

Sir, - The recent deletion of certain portions from history textbooks is an attack on the secular and liberal education system our country has been following since Independence. This is an attempt by the Government to undermine the academic and scholarly credentials of dedicated historians such as Prof. R.S. Sharma, Prof. Romila Thapar and Mr. Satish Chandra.

The NCERT textbooks have been in the syllabus for the last two decades and no previous Government had found fault with them. By tampering with history, the Sangh Parivar is trying to inject its dubious agenda into education. It is part of a larger design to indoctrinate the young minds and teach them partisan history which glorifies majoritarian culture and religion.

Sanjay Kumar,

Delhi

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Sir, - Your Editorial The CBSE's `edict' (Nov. 24): The whole episode has shown us how history can be rewritten and made to reflect the views of vested interests, with some political will. I disagree that this was done only in medieval and ancient India by kings to change their contemporary history.

After 1947, the Congress persuaded historians to review the `sepoy mutiny' as a `freedom struggle'. Even today, the British view contemporary Indian history in a totally different perspective. The Britishers, when they started to teach our students, did not face any `opposition' to see history as they deemed it fit. Nor was there any kind of investigative journalism in vogue then.

Thus we know that history can easily reflect the politics of the day and that the veracity of any statement in history can be questioned. The sanctity of history books should be put in perspective.

L. Ravi,

Chennai

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