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“Information not available”: NCERT says in response to RTI filed seeking source of claims made on Mughals rebuilding temples after destroying them

January 14, 2021
The Commune

Responding to an RTI filed by one Shivank Varma, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has said that it has no information about the source for claims made in its class 12 textbook about Mughal Emperors Shah Jahan and Aurangazeb building temples after destroying them.

The RTI filed had sought disclosure of the actual source for the claim made in page number 234 of class 12 textbook “Themes of Indian History – Part II” which says “All Mughal emperors gave grants to support the building and maintenance of places of worship. Even when temples were destroyed during war, grants were later issued for their repair – as we know from the reigns of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.”

 

This information comes under the section titled “The Ideal Kingdom” which has a sub-section named “A unifying force” in theme 9 of the textbook called “Kings and Chronicles – The Mughal Courts (Sixteenth-Seventeenth Centuries)“.

Quoting Abu’l Fazl, Mughal chronicler and author of Akbarnama, it states that Mughal ’emperors stood above all religious and ethnic groups and ensured that justice and peace prevailed. It also mentions how Akbar had abolished the jizya, and people from various religions and ethnicities were given awards and positions in the Mughal empire before making the statement about Shah Jahan and Aurangazeb rebuilding temples desstoyed in wars.

The RTI filed by Shivank Varma specifically for the sources that prove the claim of these 2 Mughal rulers rebuilt temples. The RTI also ask for the number of temples that were repaired by Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. The response from NCERT for both requests was “The information is not available in the files of the Department.”

In other words, Indian school textbooks are making claims that the Mughal Empure that mindlessly ravaged the wealth of the country, raped women, looted temples and what not, were actually benevolent, generous rulers and empathic to Hindus.

It is important to note that these textbooks are being taught for secondary school students who come under the CBSE board all over the country. By providing such disputed information without adequate sources to substantiate, is inherently feeding false information to students, and glorifying the wrongdoings of the Mughal empire.

Following this, many netizens have lashed out at the NCERT for their attempts to whitewash the Mughal rule.