April 2000
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For all of us who at times get depressed by the way the saffron brigade continues to swallow secular democratic space, here’s one round to us. So cheers! As an interim result of a campaign that we are happy to have played some part in initiating and pursuing, the Gujarat government has conceded, in writing, to the standing committee of MPs under the human resources development (HRD) ministry that there are "major mistakes" in many social studies textbooks taught in schools in Gujarat and that there is an "urgent need for revision". As we go to press, The Times of India (April 5) reports that in response to pointed queries raised by the parliamentary standing committee of the HRD ministry, the Gujarat government has admitted that:
So, while hotly denying the "saffronisation" charge (blame the Congress), the state government has admitted the mistakes and given the assurance that necessary corrections will be made "when we start preparing new textbooks". Does this mean that until the new textbooks are ready, because of the ‘mistaken glorification’ and the ‘mistake in translation’, school children in Gujarat will continue to learn from their textbooks that Hitler and Mussolini were great leaders, and that the Muslims, Christians and Parsis of India are "foreigners"? While this remains a serious concern, the significance of the ‘miracle’ in Gujarat should not be underestimated. This month’s cover story should be a grim reminder to all of us about what it means to say that Gujarat is the ‘laboratory of Hindutva’, a ‘Hindu Rashtra in one state’. And the HRD ministry is headed by none less than Murli Manohar Joshi, who is doing everything he can to pack the country’s educational and cultural institutions with RSS men and women. If despite this, here is a concrete instance of the window of opportunity that still exists for us. How did the parliamentary standing committee, which has scored on all our behalf in the present context, awaken to the issue of bias in school textbooks? With due modesty, we’d like to remind our readers of the small role played by Combat and Khoj – education for a plural India project of Sabrang Communications – in this process.
In short, it was the collective contribution of a whole number of concerned individuals and organisations which culminated in the admission of bias and the assurance to make amends by the Gujarat government. The moral behind the story – One: We can do it! It is still possible for you and us to make ‘miracles’ happen. Two: But we must not forget that one miracle is not enough.
So, there’s lots to be done still. To start with, collect instances of ‘bias’ (communal, casteist, gender) and write to the parliamentary standing committee directly. Or, write to us and we will pursue the matter on your behalf and keep you posted. May more miracles happen!
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