NCERT rejects IHC claims; says partition modules ‘do not portray any community as only sufferer or villain’

The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has rejected the Indian History Congress’ (IHC) criticism of its new modules on “Partition Horrors Remembrance Day”, terming the allegations false. Rebutting four major accusations, NCERT said that “it is unfortunate that the IHC resolution misleads the unsuspecting public”.

The NCERT recently introduced two modules for middle and secondary school students on the partition of India. The council faced opposition from several, including the Indian History Congress , one of the largest associations of historians having more than 9,000 members.

The NCERT listed four major charges made against the module:

• Falsehoods with a clear communal intent and distorted polarising history
• Holding the Muslim League and Indian National Congress responsible for partition
• Giving the British a clean chit
• No mention of Muslims but references to Hindus and Sikhs killed and humiliated

“All the four accusations are unfounded and false,” the NCERT said.

NCERT’s rebuttal

In a point-wise rebuttal, the council said the IHC failed to mention a single sentence in any of the two modules to be “false or distorted”.

On blaming the Congress party for India’s partition , the council said it is strange that the IHC chose to question it, and clarified that the modules — secondary stage pp. 5-6 and middle stage module, pp. 4-6 — have quoted Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, “the tallest Congress leaders of the time, clearly saying so”.

On the allegation of giving a clean chit to the British rulers, the NCERT pointed to the secondary stage (p. 8), which talks about the role of Lord Mountbatten in the Partition:

“The blame, however, for arbitrarily shift the date of transfer of power from June 1948 to August 1947 lies with Mountbatten. He secured agreement from all parties for this accelerated timeline. Due to it many essential arrangements that should have preceded Partition were never completed. The Partition became disorderly and chaotic.”

“All descriptions in the modules refer to Hindus and Sikhs killed and humiliated and no mention of the retaliatory horrors inflicted on Muslims, ” is also false, the council said.

Quoting from the module for the secondary stage (p.2): “One terrifying aspect of the Partition was the large-scale massacre of innocent people. Trains carrying refugees would sometimes arrive at their destinations filled only with corpses, having been slaughtered en route. Communal violence destroyed countless villages, or emptied them of an entire community.”

It also stated from the middle stage (pp.1-2) module:

“At least 6 lacs people were killed in communal violence during the Partition. Crores of people became homeless and, as refugees in their own country, were forced to search for shelter. The atrocities committed against women were unimaginable. In many places, to preserve their honour, they jumped into wells and gave up their lives. For all these reasons, the Partition turned into an unprecedented human catastrophe. All this did not occur as any natural calamity.”

Also read UDISE+ 2024-25: Sharp drop in SC, ST, OBC enrolment; government schools lose 5.9 lakh students

NCERT says ‘all accusations’ incorrect

Defending the newly launched modules, the NCERT said it has not communalised the sufferings of the partition and no community has been named as the “only suffers or the only villain”.

“Thus, all the reported accusations made by the IHC stand incorrect…These modules on Partition are about remembering the human cost and learning lessons for the future, not about alleging anyone. NCERT recommends that people should go through the modules themselves to ascertain the facts of the matter,” it added.