On NCERT’s Islamophobic “Historical Negationism” – P J James

On NCERT’s Islamophobic “Historical Negationism”

P J James

The 18th Lok Sabha Election outcome is generally interpreted as a dilution in the risk of India’s madding pace towards a fascist, theocratic, majoritarian Hindurashtra. However, this perception, even shared by many well-meaning people, needs close scrutiny in view of the logic of fascism itself. Of course, it is a fact that being short of 32 for a majority mark in parliament, the fascist party, i.e., BJP, the political tool of RSS, world’s biggest fascist organisation, has been electorally weakened. However, this setback of the fascists is at the parliamentary level only and hence the claim of a dilution or weakening of fascism seems apparent than real.

For, right from the days of Mussolini and Hitler, fascism works mainly at the extra-parliamentary level. And today, the far-right neofascists the world over have proved their capability to keep the parliament as a mere spectator, even as policy decisions are made outside of it, and more so in India where these are done in corporate-saffron board rooms. To be precise, despite its apparent weakness in parliament, the Hindutva fascist forces have their tentacles deep into India’s entire Constitutional and administrative institutions, both civil and military, together with deep roots even in judiciary. Further, RSS’ firm hold over the country’s entire institutions of culture, education, research, etc. are also widely known. And reinforced by the reactionary ideologies of Manuvadi-Hindutva, anti-Islam and anti-Communism, and through its hold over the micro and macro spheres of society, Indian fascists are capable to work relatively autonomous from State too.

Of course, it is in this background that the debate over the revision of NCERT’s political science textbook needs closer observation. Obviously, NCERT has already been transformed into an ideological tool of Indian fascism through the pro-corporate, pro-saffron NEP. And much before the 18th Lok Sabha election, it had brought many changes in Class 12 political science lessons on Ayodhya. For instance, the NCERT had dropped the reference to Babri Masjid demolition three months back. But what’s more striking and revealing now is the latest explanation by its Director Saklani that the revision in textbooks are brought as per “global practices” of screening and revising texts. This  definitely calls for comment.

Dropping of references to Babri Masjid, calling it “three-doomed structure” and adding emphasis to Ram Temple quoting SC verdict in revised NCERT textbooks, etc. should be approached in the broader context of global neofascist trend towards “new history writing” and “historical negationism”! Thus, in continuation of removal of  reference to Babri Masjid following the SC verdict, the latest edition of textbook has given a new name to it as “three-doomed structure”. The earlier NCERT textbook in this regard mentions about the “demolition of Babri Masjid” and on the consequent developments leading to the “rise of BJP and the politics of Hindutva”. But the revised text removes this objective evaluation, and instead, among other things, highlights only the “Ram Janmabhoomi Temple Movement and construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya following the decision of the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court”. In the same vein, reference of post-Godhra killing of  Muslims which was there in earlier text is also missing totally.

To come to the core point of this note, this is a typical case of what is called “historical negationism”, that is synonymous with “historical denialism” or “historical falsification”. Today, it is also called “new history writing” which is an important fascist tool for rewriting or refashioning history according to the political exigencies of surging far-right neofascism. A typical example is the denial of Hitler’s holocaust or to belittle it’s severity, a trend visible among many neo-Nazi groups today. Another instance is the far-right and pro-corporate condemnation of the “anti-fascist alliance” that led to the defeat of fascism and emergence of postwar “welfare state” at a global level that acted as a barrier for corporate accumulation leading to a decline in profit rate, during the quarter century following Second World War.

However, the concentrated expression of new history writing in the West today is in relation to the growing opposition to Islam (anti-Isam) and Islamophobia. As part of this “new history writing”, diverse spectrum of academics, experts and writers funded by neoliberal centres are engaged in cultivating racist stereotypes against Muslims, characterizing Islam as  barbarism and negation of civilisation. It’s outcome has been intensifying discrimination against Muslims and their exclusion from political, economic, social, cultural and educational spheres of the country. Neofascist political leaders like Geert Wilders from Netherlands have no qualms even  in advocating a total “de-Islamisation”. Intellectuals and historians associated with Islamophobia are working overtime to discover ideological and historical justifications and reasons for opposing Islam.

As such, across Europe, anti-Semitism of pre-war period has given way for Islamophobia in the postwar period, which intensified further in the post Cold War period, and more so since the turn of the 21st century following US promulgation of “war on terror” targeting Islam as enemy No.1. A series postmodern and “identity” theories such as Huntingdon’s ‘Class of Civilizations’ imparted ideological strength to this Islamophobic trend under far-right neofascism.

Of course, for Indian fascists, as already elucidated in Golwalkar’s Bunch of Thoughts, Islam has been their No.1 enemy from the very beginning. However, surge in anti-Muslimness and Islamophobia at the global level in the neoliberal period as neofascist ideologies has imparted further “legitimacy” to the self-proclaimed “cultural nationalists” of India. Thus, NCERT Director Dinesh Saklani’s reference to “global practices” in his defence of the Islamophobic “historical negationism” and “new history writing” being practiced by NCERT should be understood in the context of growing global alliance between Hindutva fascists and neofascists everywhere.