Press Statement
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
No Tampering with Textbooks
The directive of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) that certain portions of history textbooks be not taught in the schools is a cause for serious concern. These textbooks were prescribed by the NCERT which has now got the CBSE to issue the circular. The textbooks written by prominent historians contain factual material about the vedic age which should be available to any student studying history. The deletions have been done with a communal and sectarian viewpoint. It is shocking that even a true depiction of the oppressive caste system has been censored. This speaks volumes for the brahminical and chauvinist outlook which has motivated the censorship.
The Minister for Human Resources Development, Murli Manohar Joshi, is directly responsible for this obnoxious decision which will be widely viewed as the "talibanisation" of the educational system.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that the circular of the CBSE and the NCERT directive be withdrawn. An independent group of experts should be asked to look into the whole exercise of rewriting history undertaken by the BJP-led government and its proteges in the higher educational bodies.