Indian History Congress slams NCERT for 'distorting Partition history', accuses it of communal bias
NEW DELHI: The Indian History Congress (IHC) has sharply criticised NCERT ’s new Partition Horrors Remembrance Day modules, alleging that they spread “falsehoods, with a clear communal intent” by depicting the Congress as complicit in Partition while absolving the British. In a resolution adopted on Monday, the IHC warned that “tender minds” were being fed “distorted, polarising history.”
Majority of historians associated with the IHC are seen to be of left ideological orientation, and post-Independence Indian history writing has largely been dominated by academicians of the Left, a fact that often becomes a point of contention whenever NCERT textbooks or modules are revised.
The NCERT modules — prepared separately for Classes VI–VIII and IX–XII — describe the “culprits of Partition” as Jinnah, who demanded it; the Congress, which accepted it; and Mountbatten, who formalised and implemented it. They also state that the British “tried their best to preserve India as one until the end.”
The IHC objected to this framing, arguing that it misrepresented history. “Turning history completely upside down, the modules hold not only the Muslim League but also the Indian National Congress responsible for the Partition of the country. Quite in tune with the loyalist stance of the communal forces during the freedom struggle, the British colonial rulers are given a clean chit in these modules,” the resolution said.
Historians also alleged that the modules selectively omit key facts. “What is not mentioned is the two nation theory propounded by the ‘Hindutva’ icon V. D. Savarkar three years earlier, in 1937, in his presidential address to the Hindu Mahasabha: ‘India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogenous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main, Hindus and Muslims, in India.’”
The resolution, passed by the executive committee on Monday, further claimed that the portrayal of nationalist leaders as “culprits” was misleading: “It is indeed ironical that Hindu communalists are never included in the list of those responsible for Partition. But among the chief ‘culprits’ are said to be the nationalist leaders when the entire spectrum of the national movement, Moderates, Extremists, Gandhians, Congress Socialists, Communists, Revolutionaries etc., all believed that India had a long civilisational history of being able to live together with difference… The Indian National Congress, which since its inception in 1885, struggled relentlessly against religious communal division, its greatest leader Mahatma Gandhi giving up his life for it, is projected as one of the main ‘culprits’ of partition!”
Earlier, Congress echoed this line of attack, with spokesperson Pawan Khera declaring: “Burn this document as it doesn’t tell the truth. Partition happened due to the nexus between Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League.”
While the NCERT text links Partition to subsequent conflicts such as Kashmir and terrorism, historians argue it promotes “a hateful polarized future” instead of a balanced reckoning with the tragedy.
Majority of historians associated with the IHC are seen to be of left ideological orientation, and post-Independence Indian history writing has largely been dominated by academicians of the Left, a fact that often becomes a point of contention whenever NCERT textbooks or modules are revised.
The NCERT modules — prepared separately for Classes VI–VIII and IX–XII — describe the “culprits of Partition” as Jinnah, who demanded it; the Congress, which accepted it; and Mountbatten, who formalised and implemented it. They also state that the British “tried their best to preserve India as one until the end.”
The IHC objected to this framing, arguing that it misrepresented history. “Turning history completely upside down, the modules hold not only the Muslim League but also the Indian National Congress responsible for the Partition of the country. Quite in tune with the loyalist stance of the communal forces during the freedom struggle, the British colonial rulers are given a clean chit in these modules,” the resolution said.
Historians also alleged that the modules selectively omit key facts. “What is not mentioned is the two nation theory propounded by the ‘Hindutva’ icon V. D. Savarkar three years earlier, in 1937, in his presidential address to the Hindu Mahasabha: ‘India cannot be assumed today to be a unitarian and homogenous nation, but on the contrary there are two nations in the main, Hindus and Muslims, in India.’”
The resolution, passed by the executive committee on Monday, further claimed that the portrayal of nationalist leaders as “culprits” was misleading: “It is indeed ironical that Hindu communalists are never included in the list of those responsible for Partition. But among the chief ‘culprits’ are said to be the nationalist leaders when the entire spectrum of the national movement, Moderates, Extremists, Gandhians, Congress Socialists, Communists, Revolutionaries etc., all believed that India had a long civilisational history of being able to live together with difference… The Indian National Congress, which since its inception in 1885, struggled relentlessly against religious communal division, its greatest leader Mahatma Gandhi giving up his life for it, is projected as one of the main ‘culprits’ of partition!”
Earlier, Congress echoed this line of attack, with spokesperson Pawan Khera declaring: “Burn this document as it doesn’t tell the truth. Partition happened due to the nexus between Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League.”
While the NCERT text links Partition to subsequent conflicts such as Kashmir and terrorism, historians argue it promotes “a hateful polarized future” instead of a balanced reckoning with the tragedy.
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