Kerala CM criticises NCERT ’s proposal; urges people to safeguard essence of ‘India’

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 26: The NCERT panel’s recommendation to replace “India” with “Bharat” in school textbooks cannot be accepted, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Thursday and urged all citizens to unite and safeguard the essence of ‘India”.
He said the present recommendation could be seen only as a continuation of the recent arbitrary exclusion of portions including Mughal history and the banning of the RSS following Gandhi’s assassination from textbooks.
The politics behind the move are as clear as day, he said.In a statement, the Left veteran accused the NCERT of continuously favouring the Sangh Parivar attempts to distort history.
Now, the high-level committee for social sciences appointed by the NCERT was showing keenness to “whitewash the fake history created by the Sangh”, the CM alleged.
“The recent proposal by NCERT to replace ‘India’ with ‘Bharat’ in textbooks is not acceptable. Our Constitution recognises both names, and this change appears to be another step in the Sangh Parivar’s ongoing effort to impose their divisive communalism in our educational institutions and curriculum,” Vijayan said in his X handle.
He further alleged that the Sangh Parivar is scared of the politics of inclusion represented by the term ‘India’, and their aversion to the word is part of that.
Vijayan charged that the Sangh has always been against the idea of “India” based on pluralism and coexistence.
The NCERT panel’s recommendation was the latest example of this, the CM claimed.
“As per the decision of NCERT’s Committee on Social Science, the word ‘India’ should be changed to ‘Bharat’ in the textbooks of the academic branch. The Constitution refers to our nation as both India and Bharat.
“The politics behind avoiding India in it is as clear as daylight. The Sangh Parivar fears the inclusive politics represented by the phenomenon called India. The hatred against the word India is part of this”, he said.
Vijayan urged all citizens to unite and safeguard the essence of ‘India’, a nation founded on the principles of unity in diversity.
“Let’s celebrate our diverse heritage and embrace our pluralistic identity with pride,” Vijayan said, a day after a high-level committee for social sciences, appointed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to revise the school curriculum, recommended the replacement of “India” with “Bharat” in textbooks for all classes nationwide.
Earlier in the day, General Education Minister V Sivankutty also came out against the recommendation for the name change and alleged that this was a form of “parochial politics” with a hidden agenda, something the southern state could not accept under any circumstances.
“Every citizen has the right to use India or Bharat as mentioned in the Constitution,” he pointed out.
Asking to use only “Bharat” in the textbook was with a “hidden agenda and parochial politics,” and Kerala cannot accept it, he said while explaining the government’s stand.
The government would also convene the State Curriculum Committee and discuss in detail the work of preparing all the textbooks for the 11th and 12th standards in the state itself. (PTI)