Hindu Fascists’ Offensive in Education

It is a three-pronged attack. First, the widening of the influence of the RSS sponsored Vidya Bharati schools and educational institutions throughout the country. Second, in the BJP-ruled states, spreading the Vidya Bharati-type curriculum to all schools of the state. Third, using its control over the Central government, to aggressively push Hindutva educational policies through a fanatical HRD (Human Resource Development) minister, to gradually subvert and change the entire educational curricula of the country from top to bottom.

In addition, it has taken control of all the central institutions of learning and research in the sphere of the social sciences with the aim of saffronising its products — both human and intellectual. Murali Manohar Joshi, a one time president of the BJP (1991-93), has been ruthless in pushing the hindu fascist agenda in education. He has made about 250 key appointments to institutions as varied as the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), University Grants Commission (UGC), Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), etc. He has summarily dismissed the early appointees. He has appointed ‘experts’ with little academic background, at huge monthly salaries to prepare and write the saffron curricula, policies, patterns and do ‘research’ through saffron tainted spectacles.

Their efforts have been thorough and meticulous facing barely any opposition from the so-called secular parliamentary parties — whether alliance partners or the opposition. Though ‘education’ is on the Concurrent List, making consultations with the state governments mandatory, the HRD ministry has been bringing in changes arbitrarily. The state governments have remained as mute observers. At best, opposition has come when some electoral capital can be made out of it — as in the case of the forced singing of the Saraswati Vandana, on which the BJP had to retract.

Let us then take a deeper look into the changes being brought about in the sphere of education. First we will take a look at the subject ‘history’ on which the fascists have been concentrating, and which has been the focus of much debate between the so-called secularists and hindu chauvinists.

The reactionaries of all hues fear history like poison. Historical facts, if presented truthfully, expose people and parties for what they really are. So history-writing, is one subject of the social sciences, where the greatest distortions occur.

On the other hand, a correct interpretation of history, helps us to better understand the present, in order to chalk out a path for the future. It therefore is a powerful weapon in the hands of the working class. And with historical materialism as a tool, the proletariat can understand the laws governing change within the social process. It can see the historical facts, not as separate entities, but as a process of change governed by certain laws. With such a scientific approach to understanding history, communists are able to clearly chalk out the path for revolutionary change.

No wonder then that suppression and distortion of history is an important aspect of any ruling classes’ attempts to subvert revolutionary change. The most reactionary elements amongst them, the fascists, are, quite obviously, the worst distorters. They have the most to fear.

Take the Sangh Parivar. A look into the period of British-India, will prove they had little role to play in the freedom struggle, showing up thereby its talk of ‘nationalism’ to be an outright hoax, And a look into ancient Indian history will destroy the very edifice of their communal theory, wherein the Muslims and Christians are portrayed as foreigners, while the Hindus (Aryans) as indigenous. Quite naturally the fascists have an urgent need to distort and suppress history.

So, it is no wonder that the BJP stopped the publications of the extensive documentation done by K.N.Panikkar and Sumit Sarkar of the critical years in the 1940s. These books were not only to be an analysis of that period, but also a documentation of actual records. While analysis could be dismissed for it wrong interpretations, the same cannot be done for concrete records. The RSS clan would have got thoroughly exposed with the publication of such documents.

Regarding ancient Indian history the RSS have got their hacks to try and prove the Aryans as indigenous and not invaders (or migrants) from Central Asia, and to prove that it was the Aryans who inhabitated the ancient Indus valley civilisations (see Box on debate). If the Aryans too were foreigners, their very basis of castigating Muslims and Christians as of foreign origin, will fall through; so their desperation to concoct proof. Besides, while recounting history, they glorify the Hindu rulers and denigrate the muslim ones. They diffuse the distinction between mythology and history — turning mythology into history, and giving certain aspects of history a mythological portrayal. They portray and promote all the most reactionary aspects of the past, while completely ignoring the progressive and radical trends. So, for example, they glorify all that is Brahminical, while ignoring the dalit and tribal traditions, and also the various atheist schools of thought, like the Sankhyas, etc.

Such distortions of history are part of the Sangh Parivar’s political agenda — an ideological basis for their Hindu fascist rule. For this reason it is highly dangerous and has to be opposed bitterly. The saffron scum that now adorn the corridors of the academic institutions should be disrobed and kicked out. They should face a social boycott, their programmes, seminars etc., disrupted and they should be called for public debate before the masses. Besides, a counter trend should be started in the sphere of history, which does not depend on state patronage. The masses and particularly the intellectuals should be mobilised to raise funds to hold seminars, meetings and programmes and bring out publications that present a truthful account of our past.

Unfortunately, in this battle, the ousted so-called secular historians, are also not above board. While the fascist trend is the most dangerous and should be targeted, the Congress-sponsored ‘secular’ (or CPI) historians must be exposed. These historians also distorted history in order to glorify the Congress rule in the freedom movement. For example, the pro-CPI, Bipin Chandra, who has authored the NCERT books taught at the higher and secondary level, has always promoted the picture of the Congress as leader of the independence struggle. In their book "India’s struggle for Independence" the authors go out of their way to prove that the Congress was not a "safety valve". Also this book justifies Gandhi’s position as against Subhash Chandra Bose.

This pro-Congress history-writing meant that they were awarded the most plumb professorships and other loaves of high office in institutions such as the ICHR, ICSSR, etc. The Congress leadership’s and Gandhi’s traitorous role in the freedom movement, has been thoroughly distorted and glorified. They have thus numbed the anti-imperialist consciousness of the masses, by giving a false impression of having achieved full freedom in 1947. In addition, the Indian revolutionaries have been given short shrift in the NCERT books. So, for example, the revolutionary Surya Sen — of the famous Chittagong Armoury Raid — is not even mentioned. State sponsored pro-Congress historians have colluded in making people forget the revolutionaries, to preserve the halo of the Congress leaders and portray the fake independence as real. They, like their BJP counterparts, put all the blame for partition, wholly on Jinnah’s shoulders ignoring the Congress’s own pro-hindu and castiest biases.

While targeting our attack on the hindu fascists we should not gloss over the negative impact of this false portrayal of history by the so-called secularists. Besides, the present hindutva distortions of history is not to be replaced by the old stereotype half-truths of the CPI/Congress historians, but by a new refreshing trend in history which brings out the full facts as they unfolded. There is urgent need of a counter-trend based on truth, an honest assessment of the past and a deep study into all its aspects and ramifications. It is only such a new wave in history that can successfully counter the falsehoods of the hindutva hacks, and not give the likes of the Arun Shouries the opportunity to utilise the distortions by the ‘secularists’ to their advantage.

Having looked at this key sphere of debate, in the realm of history, and the implications of what is taking place there, let us now turn to the actual measures taken by the Sangh Parivar in the sphere of education.

In 1969 the RSS formed the Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal (BSM) amongst teachers belonging to the RSS which focussed its attention on evolving a "Hidutva curriculum." The Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Siksha Sansthan was established in 1978 when both Vajpayee and Advani were ministers in the Morarji Desai cabinet. Utilising their position in the central government and the huge funds at their disposal they set up this network with the objective of providing a coherent organisational setting for the activities of the RSS in the field of education. In this, they were ably assisted by pro-RSS industrialists.

By 1995, there were 6,000 such schools employing 40,000 teachers, with 12 lakh students. The rise of the BJP was accompanied by a phenomenal growth of such schools/institutions in just the next three years. By end 1998, its secretary, Batra, boasted that the organisation ran 14,000 schools, employing 80,000 teachers, with 18 lakh students. Its network had spread to all states except Mizoram. They also controlled 60 colleges and 25 other institutions of higher education. They ran two teacher-training colleges — in Jaipur and Ahmednagar. Of the total schools, 5,000 were recognised by the CBSE (Central Board of Secondary Education) or the respective State Education Boards.

Besides the ordinary curriculum they also have two specific texts : Sanskriti Gyan Pareeksha (Cultural Knowledge Examination) and Sanskriti Gyan Pareeksha Prasnottari (Cultural Knowledge Examination Questions-Answers). To understand the level of their bigotry, let us sample what is taught :

Such is the trash taught to children in these schools. The schools themselves are known by a variety of names, such as Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Bharatiya Vidya Niketan, Gita Vidyalaya, Saraswati Bal Vidyalaya, etc. Significantly, to hide their identity, the state-level bodies do not always go by the name Vidya Bharati. These bodies use different names depending on the socio-political situation in each state.

They have made extensive forays into states outside of their existing strongholds of the Hindi belt, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Even in a state like Kerala, where the BJP has little presence, they run 174 schools in all its 14 districts. In Tamil Nadu they function discreetly under the cover of numerous ‘autonomous’ trusts like the Tamil Kalvi Kazhagam, Vivekanand Vidyalayas, etc.

Since 1998, after the BJP came to power at the Centre, vast sums have been channelled into the Vidya Bharatis that has extended their reach even further.

In most states a parochial pro-hindutva bias has always existed at the local level. A brahminical infection is to be widely seen even in text books of many ‘mainline’ state education boards and even ICSE board texts. These texts have, particularly since the early 1980s (when the Congress itself promoted the pro-hindutva trend) seen a successful reflection of gender-driven, communally motivated and caste-biased approach that has been commonly associated with only RSS-run educational institutions. For example, many of the texts, including those recommended by the ICSE board, describe the varna system as "the most precious gift of mankind." The manusmriti in many text books is mentioned ambiguously and often in praise. For the partition of India only Jinnah was held responsible.

So, in this already conducive environment the BJP found introduction of Vidya Bharati-style texts an easy and smooth operation once they came to power in the states. Besides, in states like UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat etc., a large section of the top echelon in the academic institutions already had a RSS bias.

When the BJP came to power in UP there was large scale doctoring of the history and other text books. For example the class VII general knowledge book of the Saraswati Shishu Mandir in UP asked the following questions : When did Babar destroy the Ram temple and construct the Babri Masjid ?

In Rajasthan, when the BJP was in power, substantial changes were made for the Class 9, 10, 11, 12 standards in grammar, history and the political science texts, that suit the RSS ideology and seek to make BJP leaders popular. After the nuclear explosion at Pokhran, school text books were revised to justify the blasts as well as serve the function of indoctrination on the benefits that have allegedly flowed from the event.

The Gujarat government admits its text books describe muslims and christians as foreigners and glorify Nazism and Fascism. The government has even handed over the invigilation of examinations to the RSS, VHP, etc. Educational institutions not controlled by the RSS and their allies, are being forcibly closed down by illegal takeover of their property and the use of physical violence, including numerous instances of rape.

While such rabid trash is being fed to an entire new generation in the Vidya Bharatis and BJP-run states, the HRD ministry at the Centre is not only the main coordinator of all these activities, it is introducing such deep-going structural changes in the entire educational system, that it will take time to reverse even if this government falls, and a new government has that inclination.

Never before has communal prejudices, philistinism and petty-mindedness found such a powerful ally as the HRD ministry under Murali Manohar Joshi — perhaps the crudest personification of bigotry to adorn that office.

The saffron agenda is gathering momentum at both ends of the education spectrum — the school level and at the level of higher education.

Under the guise of promoting morality and samskaras, the NCERT is setting up a resource centre for "value education" which is to be made mandatory for school children. A note lists 83 "values" — all of which are nothing but a euphemism for promoting rabid Hindutva nationalism and false pride in a ‘glorified’ past. It is designed to provoke the child to think that if there is anything commendable in civilisation or culture, it must be Hindu. These ‘experts’ mostly comprise of unknown names, some of whom are RSS fossils too old to even attend meetings.

Next, the NCERT has sought to totally change the orientation of the social sciences through its "National Curriculum Framework" presented in November 2000. The expert group involved in this has advocated, amongst other things, the incorporation of the Vedas and Upanishads into the basic curricula. It speaks of the indigenisation of the curriculum giving "due importance to the teaching of Hindi as the official language of the country." It will therefore once again seek to impose hindi and thereby further crush the regional languages.

The NCERT also has a plan to make Sanskrit compulsory for Classes X to XII. This means it will have to be taught many years earlier; at least from Class VII or VIII. The HRD minister, Joshi, says that the NCERT and the CBSE (Central Board for Secondary Education) are already "preparing the syllabus" for this.

Finally, in the most astounding decision of all, the NCERT has recently decided to withdraw history as an independent subject from the CBSE syllabus. According to the new syllabus being drawn up for 2002-3, Class VI to X will have no separate history textbooks, only ‘history-related’ subjects as part of the social sciences and humanities.

This is likely to come into affect from the next academic year in a planned manner. The text books that are sought to be removed are those authored by Romilla Thapar, R.S.Sharma, Satish Chandra and Bipin Chandra. Explaining the reason for the change RK Dixit (convenor of the Curriculum Group and head of the Department of Education and Social Sciences) said "the concerns and issues of the contemporary world need to be kept in the forefront. To this end, the quantum of history may have to be substantially reduced". So fearful are they of the subject ‘history’ itself, that the saffron clan now seek to strike it off the very agenda of learning. And in its place they plan to introduce "history-related" topics that are of "immediate relevance". Giving an example of what this means, Dixit said "At the other side of the Qutb Minar you have the Quwwatul Islam mosque .... one reads there that the masjid was built on the debris of 37 Hindu and Jain temples. This is immediate history."

Now if we turn to higher education, we find similar attempts to bring in "value education" into the colleges and other institutions. On October 10, 2000, the Union Education Secretary, M.K. Kaw announced that the IIT Delhi would be the centre for value education for all engineering colleges. Also planned is a "centre for consciousness and leadership" at the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. This "value education" course is likely to include the teachings not only of Vivekanand and Chinmayananda, but also Sai Baba, Brahma Kumaris and the Sadhu Vaswani Mission.

Another change in the sphere of higher education is the UGC’s decision to introduce new degree courses in ‘Vedic Astrology’ and ‘Karmakanda’. Astonishingly this is to be part of the ‘scientific discipline’. If such a trend continues we will not be at all surprised if ‘black magic’ is also introduced as a science subject, with, may be, Sai Baba as head of the faculty !!

What is even more dangerous, is the fact that the UGC was been systematically increasing its controls over the universities. In its original conception, the UGC was meant to act as a buffer between the universities and the government. Now, the UGC acts merely as a conduit through which the Ministry of Human Resources Development exerts it vice-like grip over the universities of the country. The UGC is using its financial powers to threaten universities in the country. It is seeking greater control over appointments through the nomination of an extra UGC nominee on the grounds that universities need greater supervision. Similarly, the UGC is now acquiring powers to overide visiting committee recommendations for the allocation of new posts. It has added another layer of superintendence on financial matters pertaining to universities by acting, in effect, as an auditing agency. It has arbitrarily denied 26 universities the right to start infotech courses, in order that private institutions flourish, while on the other hand it is imposing courses on Vedic Astrology. Nowhere in the mandate for the UGC is it envisaged that it will be empowered to deny universities the right to start new courses, or have the mandate to accept those proposed by the UGC.

Besides these changes in the system of education we have already seen all the institutions of higher education and research in the social sciences (like the ICHR, ICSSR, etc) have been totally saffronised.

To bring about these vast changes in the sphere of education, the HRD ministry has been functioning with Hitlerian precision, bypassing even those norms set by the institutions themselves, directing the central bodies to do their bidding. Not only has parliament been bypassed and state governments ignored, even some of the regular faculty of the NCERT is being kept in the dark about the changes planned in the syllabus for schools and the preparation of new text books. For example, the social sciences faculty of the NCERT was ignored while "outside experts" were appointed at fat salaries of Rs. 20,000 per month. These appointments were not only arbitrary they also flouted all existing rules — they were above the age limit of 62 (two were 66 and 67) and their monthly salary was well above the maximum limit set at Rs. 13,000.

Besides, it is mandatory to consult the state governments by calling a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education, since education is on the Concurrent List of subjects. Finally, when the new policy has been approved by the CABE, it is to be placed before parliament for discussion and approval. None of these procedures are being adopted, and the HRD is arbitrarily pushing through the changes.

The other political parties act as mere meek observers. In fact in Congress (I) ruled states, like MP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan etc., they continue their soft hindutva approach. They either turn a blind eye to the going-ons of the RSS in the sphere of education in these states, or they often even encourage them. An exactly similar approach is adopted by all the regional parties. Even the CPM, notwithstanding the noise it makes on this issue, most often ignores RSS activity in the sphere of education. In fact the CPM Tripura government went so far as to appreciate the Centre's new National Curriculum framework. They first raised some questions, but after receiving explanations from the NCERT, the Tripura Education Minister, Anil Sarkar, said he was happy with the clarifications.

With such an approach of the non-BJP parties including the so-called 'Left', it is not surprising that the fanatics in the HRD ministry face little opposition.

In a most dangerous project undertaken by the RSS, through an organisation known as the Itihas Sankalan Samiti, they plan to rewrite the history of each district of the country. In other words they plan to dig out all that is reactionary in local tradition, suppress the progressive and radical aspects of the past, and inject that into the local population. Realising that all-India schemes of utilising ‘national’ deities to incite the masses, have little appeal in large parts of the country, this project will help the RSS and their ‘educational’ institutions to more effectively penetrate people’s minds with its fascist trash.

Besides these, we find the hindutva ideological offensive pervading newer and newer avenues of the social and intellectual life of the people. To take some recent example :

Now even the National Film awards were vulgarised by manipulating the prizes leading to the resignation of three members of the jury. The jury was packed with Sushma Swaraj’s and RSS thugs like Tarun Vijay — editor of the RSS weekly Panchajanya — who are in no way film critiques. The rating of films was obviously rigged, with even a poor mythological film — Pandavas — getting an award.

Of late even recreation (not only that on TV) is sought to be turned into subtle hindutva indoctrination. The union urban development minister, Jagmohan, has plans to turn the entire banks of the Yamuna at Delhi into a spectacular Mahabharata "theme village". He wants to create larger-than-life structures which "show" where and how the five Pandavas lived. He has allotted a hefty Rs. 5 crores as seed money for a preliminary feasibility study. The actual project would run into hundreds of crores. While the government complains it has no money for subsidies to the poor, it can waste vast sums on such maniacal extravaganza.

Even in distant Canada, Hindu communalists targeted a secular Sahmat exhibition depicting protests against nuclear weapons. They were backed by the Indian High Commission who forced an academic institution to dissociate from the exhibition.

And added to all this are the regular streams of seminars held by the HRD ministry and countless asso-ciated bodies on subjects like "spirituality and science", "consciousness and technology", "Vedanta and cultural heritage", etc. — all at public expense. In their bid to balance obscuranticism with the present modern high-tech world — both of which they promote — these hacks try and put forth the "essential unity of astrology, vedantic philosophy and modern experimental science ...."

The list of hindutva sponsored programmes could go on and on, but suffice it to say that India’s Taliban is running amok in the field of education, culture, ideology and social life in general. Their slow poison is being fed into the minds of children, youth and adults. They have general programmes and targeted schemes, for particular sections of the population.

Yet, for all the Sangh Parivar’s efforts, the BJP continues to lose ground in the country. Life after all, is a far better educator than a thousand mantras. Chanting bhajans to hindu deities, cannot drown the anger caused by increasingly empty stomachs. The hindu fascist’s waning influence, is inspite of the assistance rendered to it by its alliance partners, and the policy of appeasement towards it by the rest of the parliamentary opposition.

Democratic sentiment against it is growing, but it is not yet an organised force that can hit it. Hundreds of scientists and academics opposed the scheme for the introduction of Vedic Astrology. Numerous demonstrations have taken place against the changes decisions at the ICHR. Teachers throughout the country are increasingly resentful of the changes being brought in. If the entire democratic and revolutionary forces are organised into a powerful fighting front, it will make the fascists run for cover.

In neighbouring Nepal we recently witnessed a mass student upsurge against their government’s reactionary policies. In mid-May 2001, in a week long bundh the Akhil Nepal Rashtriya Swatantra Vidyarthi Union (Krantikari) [the student wing of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)] paralysed the entire educational system of the country. Their 15-point charter of demands comprised not only economic demands like ‘free education’, but also political demands like the abolition of Sanskrit as a compulsory subject and a ban on the singing of the country’s national anthem that glorifies the king.

In India too the students and teaching community must rise like a storm to oppose the hindutva changes taking place in the educational system like "value education", compulsory Sanskrit teaching, removal of history as a subject and the numerous other parochial steps being introduced. It is the future of an entire new generation that is at stake.

Hindutva’s Desperation to Falsify History

The hindutva clan are desperate. They are concocting various kinds of "evidence" to back Savarkar’s definition of the ‘Hindu’.... whose pitrubhumi (ancestral land) and punyabhumi (the land of his religion) had to be India. So the Aryans had to be made to have originated from India and not as migrants or invaders. So, it had to be proved that Aryans were the inhabitants of the Ancient Indus valley civilisations like Mohenjedaro and Harappa. Since Savarakar's definition of Hindus sought a lineal descent from the Aryans, the Aryans had to be indigenous. They could not be descended from alien invaders. In fact, it is this definition of the Hindu that excluded muslims and christians from being indigenous since their religion did not originate in India. So, if the Aryans did not originate in India the whole basis of their demagogy would fall through.

But the reality is that most historians, anthropologists, archeologists etc., have found little evidence to show Aryans as indigenous. Most of them see either the Aryans as invaders from Central Asia, or see it as a process of a series of migrations and inter-mixing with locals that resulted in the Indo-Aryan language and culture. Besides, there is no evidence whatsoever of the Aryan origins of the Indus valley civilisation.... or linking the Rigveda to Harappan life. In fact, the village based pastoral society of the Rigveda could not be identified with the complex urban society of the Indus cities.

In the Rigveda, the horse is an animal of great cultural and religious significance, being mentioned hundreds of times. Also the language used was sanskrit. So to prove the Vedic/Aryan-Harappan connection it was necessary to find a ‘horse’ at Harappa and prove the Harappan script was Sanskrit.

The Hindutva ‘academics’ set to discover the ‘proof’, and one of their hacks, N.S. Rajaram, produced a series of books within the last two to three years. Negating all earlier evidence not only did he discover one inscription of a ‘horse’, but also deciphered the Harappan script as Sanskrit. So he ‘proved’, that Aryans originated in India.

But, as the debate in ‘Frontline’ has shown, world leading authorities on the Indian valley civilisation like, Asko Parpola, Iravatham Mahadevan and Michael Witzel and Steve Farmer, have show Rajaram’s discoveries to be an outright fraud.

The animal inscription most widely found in the Harappan inscriptions is the unicorn bull. They have shown Rajaram’s ‘horse’ to be nothing but computer manipulations of the original picture. The original is one-fourth the size compared to Rajaram’s print in his book. While enlarging the original he manipulated it to look like a horse. Comparison of the original and his print proves the manipulation. In addition, no other representation of the horse has been found on the thousands of seal or the numerous terracotta figures of the Indus civilisation, although many other animals, real and imaginary, were depicted by the Harappans. Incidentally the horse too is linked to Central Asia, where it was widely used.

Regarding the Harappan script, so far all evidence has shown it to be more akin to Dravidian languages rather than Sanskrit. As Witzel and Farmer say (Frontline November 24, 2000): "There have been many failed but honest attempts to decipher the Indus script, .... what makes Rajaram’s effort worth close analysis is not its scholarly merit — because it has none — but the element of duplicity in his work .... The barrage of insults and threats that we have received since our article went to press suggests that our analysis has hit a sensitive nerve in Hindutva circles."

In fact the historians say that the attempt to link the identity of the Vedic and Harappan cultures and to deny the external origin of Sanskrit and other Indo-Aryan languages is as absurd as to claim, as Dayananda Saraswati did, that the railway trains and aeroplanes that were introduced by the British in the 19th and 20th centuries had already been invented by the Vedic Aryans.

Ofcourse, Saraswati’s audience, is the backward rural masses; Rajaram’s is the sophisticated urban intellectual!!