Karnataka panel seeks inclusion of 'Hindu genocide' in history textbooks

A state government panel on the National Education Policy (NEP) has recommended overhauling history textbooks and pitched for including topics on the "Hindu genocide", asking whether "we are not man enough to face the truth".

The committee in its position paper calls for pivoting to an Indian perspective, instead of the colonial, invader point of view, and this should be done by imparting ‘Knowledge of India’ topics, from history to mathematics.

The paper has been prepared by a 9-member committee headed by IIT Varanasi faculty V Ramanathan and comes against the backdrop of a series of controversies over rewriting textbooks, which has raised the hackles of the Opposition.

“It is especially a grave tragedy that as a nation, we are not man enough to face the truth in the eye,” the paper states.

“...in our country, it is almost impossible to have a dispassionate narration about Hindu genocides that have happened in various centuries,” it says and juxtaposes this with how several European nations have criminalised Holocaust denial.

The paper points out that current textbooks do not cover the "genocide of the Malabar Hindus (Moplah riots), Maharashtrian Brahmins and Kashmiri Hindus".

“One wonders if Gandhiji's ahimsa has been misunderstood as cowardice from seeking and speaking the truth,” it states.

According to the paper, studying genocides “as a fact of history should not be construed as provoking a section of our society” but the "whole purpose is to learn from history through local communities because such events have never been a part of regular scholastic media.”

The paper says history textbooks should “...develop a strong national identity without being apologetic” and move away from the "perspective of invaders and the colonisers”.

The committee wants history to elaborate on Maratha, Chola, Vijayanagara, Kashmira, Kalingas and other kingdoms. "Bharatiya Dharma Parampara is neither introduced in a holistic manner nor projected with the right perspective whereas Christianity and Islam are presented in individual chapters," it says.

Bharatiya mathematics

The paper is critical of mathematics and science being taught. "While there is hardly any evidence for an apple actually falling on Newton’s head or Archimedes realising buoyancy when in the bathtub, such stories are famous and widely told and retold," it says, scoffing at "so-called" Pythagoras theorem.

Seeking trimming of sections on Greek mathematics, the committee wants students to study Bharatiya mathematicians and their concepts of Bhutasankhya, Katapayadi and pati-ganitam.

In science, the committee bats for Bharatiya texts for students to learn about the universe (Nasadiya Sukta), material evolution (Satapatha Brahmana), atoms and molecules (Kaṭha Upaniṣad) and classification of matter (Vaiśeṣika) among other things.