All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Chief Asaduddin Owaisi strongly criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for revising the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus. He alleged that the new changes unfairly blame Muslims for India’s partition.
Speaking to reporters, Owaisi said, “This BJP has changed the NCERT syllabus, held Muslims responsible for the partition, we are not responsible for the partition. Savarkar was the first to raise the slogan of partition. Mountbatten is responsible for the partition, the Congress government of that time is responsible, how are we responsible for the partition?”
Owaisi also claimed that the reasons behind Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination have been removed from textbooks. “You have also removed from NCERT the reason why Mahatma Gandhi was killed by Godse,” he added.
The revised NCERT textbooks now only mention that Gandhi was shot on January 30, 1948, by a young man named Nathuram Godse. Earlier details about Godse’s background, his motivations and the political consequences of Gandhi’s assassination have been removed.
NCERT has released new special modules for the Partition Horrors Remembrance Day, which is observed on August 14. These modules are meant for students of classes 6-8 and 9-12 as extra learning material. They clearly state that Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Congress leaders, and the then Viceroy Lord Mountbatten were the three main figures responsible for India’s Partition.
BJP leader compares Rahul Gandhi to Jinnah
Earlier, on August 17, Assam Assembly Deputy Speaker and BJP leader Numal Momin compared Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to Muhammad Ali Jinnah. “He (Rahul Gandhi) is exactly playing the role of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Rahul Gandhi is the new avatar of Muhammad Ali Jinnah,” Momin told ANI.
Other changes in new NCERT textbooks
The NCERT has made sweeping revisions to its Social Science and History books from Class 6 to 12. Chapters on the Mughal Empire, India’s Partition and other historical events have either been shortened or removed.
For Class 7, lessons on the Mughals and the Delhi Sultanate have been completely removed. The syllabus now carries a note saying that “no one should be held responsible today for events of the past”.
From Class 8 onwards, topics like the Delhi Sultanate, the Mughals and the Marathas are still included but presented differently. Instead of a continuous timeline of their rule, the books now emphasise critical viewpoints such as religious intolerance and the weaknesses of Mughal governance.
According to NCERT, these edits are part of a “rationalisation” process aimed at reducing the load on students and cutting down repetitive lessons.