India-Pakistan Border in Wagah
Credit: iStock Photo
New Delhi: The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has caused yet another row by claiming that three entities were responsible for the Partition — Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the Congress and Mountbatten. In retaliation, the Congress party said that such books should be burnt.
In its newly released special modules marking Partition Remembrance Day, the curriculum body published that the Partition and the birth of Pakistan could have been avoided and was the result of three key actors.
“There were three elements responsible for the Partition of India: Jinnah, who demanded it; second, the Congress, which accepted it; and third, Mountbatten, who implemented it,” the special module says.
The module also quotes Jawaharlal Nehru saying: “We have come to a stage when we must either accept division or face continued conflict and chaos. Partition is bad. But whatever the price of unity, the price of civil war would be infinitely greater.”
These are not textbooks but in addition to them. One of these modules is designed for the middle stage for Classes 6 to 8, and the other is for the secondary stage for Classes 9 to 12.
The module also says that both Nehru and Sardar Patel eventually accepted Partition to avoid the possibility of a civil war. Mahatma Gandhi who was opposed to the idea of Partition, too, gave up, it said. “In fact, Nehru and Patel accepted Partition due to the fear of civil war. Upon their agreeing, Mahatma Gandhi, also gave up his opposition...,” it notes.
The module adds that Patel called it “bitter medicine”, while Nehru described it as "bad but unavoidable".
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said that the book must be burned.
“Set this book on fire ...The truth is that Partition happened because of the collaboration between the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League. If history has the biggest villain, it is the RSS. Future generations will not forgive the role it played in spying, which it continued for 25 years at that time. And in that spying, there was collaboration with Muslims and with Jinnah,” he said.