The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has removed the term "anti-Muslim" from the class 12 poilitical science textbook, making it "Gujarat riots" in the revised version.
Two changes have been made in the new textbooks which were published in 2007 when the Congress-led UPA was in power.
Besides the sub-head of a chapter called "Politics in India since Independence”, the word “Muslim” has also been omitted from the first sentence of the passage.
The passage earlier read: “In February-March 2002, large-scale violence against Muslims took place in Gujarat”. In the updated books, it now reads: “In February-March 2002, large-scale violence took place in Gujarat”.
The amendments have been made for the first time since 2007, however, NCERT maintained that it is a minor change.
The changes were first suggested by the then CBSE Chairman RK Chaturvedi in June last year.
According to the government’s reply before the parliament, 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed in the 2002 Gujarat riots. Meanwhile, 223 people were reported missing and 2,500 were injured.
The textbook was drafted by the textbook development committee of which Hari Vasudevan, UGC Emeritus Professor at the department of history in Calcutta University, was the chairperson and political scientists Suhas Palshikar and Yogendra Yadav. Yadav is now a full-time politician.
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