The Erasure of India’s Diversity: A Critical Analysis of the Government’s Textbook and Name Change Policies

The governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) promotes Hindu nationalism and minimizes the contributions and presence of other religious and cultural groups in India’s history and society; recent changes to school curricula and the renaming of places reflect this. By removing references to Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the Godhra riots, and other significant historical and scientific facts from textbooks, attempts have been made to construct a unified narrative that glorifies the Hindu majority and its leaders. The renaming of sites with Muslim or colonial connotations into more Hindu-sounding names is another method of demonstrating Hindu superiority and eradicating the remnants of other influences that shaped India’s geography and culture.

These changes threat the secular democracy and pluralistic identity that are fundamental to India’s constitution and its citizens’ sense of national pride. Because children are exposed to biased and false information, the quality of education and the students’ ability to think critically are diminished. Instead of trying to impose its ideological agenda on curricula and place names, the government should venerate the diversity and richness of India’s history and culture. It should promote the kind of open communication, tolerance, and respect for one another’s beliefs and practices that are essential for India’s prosperity and cohesion.

The list shows that the Indian government has changed Muslim or colonial names to Hindu ones. The present regime promotes Hindu nationalism, which eliminates others. In 2018, Allahabad became Prayagraj and New Raipur Atal Nagar. Hoshangabad became Narmadapuram in 2021, Aurangabad became Sambhajinagar in 2023, and Daulatabad became Devgiri. Faizabad was renamed Ayodhya to emphasize its Hindu mythological significance. The Uttar Pradesh railroad station Mughalsarai is currently named Deen Dayal Upadhyaya. Delhi streets named after prominent Indian emperors include Tughlaq Road, Aurangzeb Lane, Humayun Road, Akbar Road, and Shahjahan Road. Mysore, Bombay (now Mumbai), Calcutta (now Kolkata), and Madras (now Chennai) renamed themselves after independence. Rebranding is part of India’s Hindu heritage movement.

This phenomenon, termed a “name change spree“, has been designed to detach the historical significance of these places associated with Muslim rulers. This wave of name changes aligns with the agenda of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is influenced by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and aims to establish a Hindu Rashtra (nation).

The RSS strives to promote the dominant narrative of Hindu supremacy and represent India as a Hindi-majority state, following the ideology of Hindutva and altering history to support the extremist ideology. Aditya Mukherjee, an Indian historian and former professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, warned that when a particular community is demonized and erased from history, it is often a sign of an impending genocide. If that is the case, then it is alarming for the minority groups in India.

Furthermore, if state-sponsored policies continue to promote communal bias, it will empower extremist groups like the Sangh Parivar to target minorities and Muslims without facing the consequences. Under these actions, dissenting voices are suppressed whenever they clash with the ideologies propagated by the RSS and BJP, as both organizations endorse V D Savarkar’s slogan of “Hindu, Hindi, and Hindustan.”

In addition to strong bias and discrimination against Muslims, Christians and Dalits have also been targeted without consequences. The suicide of Rahit Vimula, a Dalit PhD scholar at Hyderabad University, reflects this discrimination, as was expressed in his suicide note as well. Moreover, Dr B. R. Ambedkar, a Dalit and the architect of India’s constitution, also faced discrimination due to his communal background.

What’s more distressing is that even state institutions, including the judiciary, seem to support the government’s actions, such as during the Gujarat riots, in which over 2,000 Muslims were killed where even the head of government openly acknowledged his involvement in the massacre but was not convicted. The Modi government played its part in eradicating this major massacre from history by eliminating references to the 2002 Gujarat riots in all social science textbooks. Other incidents, such as the murder of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf by RSS members while in police custody, demonstrate the active implementation of a saffronization agenda and it’s embracing by the government institutions, as observed when the Supreme Court of India formerly denied Atiq’s request for additional security.

This complicity of state institutions, including the judiciary, in supporting the government’s policies raises serious questions about justice and accountability. When institutions meant to uphold the law disregard the misrepresentation and erasure of history, it erodes the trust in the system by undermining the principles of a just and fair society.

The erasure of cultural heritage disconnects future generations from their own history and does not allow them to comprehend India’s past deeply. Such cultural and historical vandalism can be observed in various other acts, including the removal of critical historical references from Indian textbooks, such as the conditional accession of Jammu and Kashmir based on Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which raises concerns about the distortion of history and manipulation of students’ knowledge of facts. Article 370 gave Jammu and Kashmir an autonomous status, and in August 2019, it was abrogated, ending Jammu and Kashmir’s independent state status.

References to the Godhra riots, a tragic incident which was followed by Muslim killings by RSS and Bajrang Dal extremists in Gujarat, have been completely removed from textbooks spanning classes 6 to 12. Additionally, publishing content, like V.D. Savarkar’s ability to fly out of prison on bird wings, also dramatically compromises the integrity of education. Details surrounding Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination have also been deliberately removed from one of the political science textbooks designed for grade 11, and ironically enough, his assassin was Nathuram Godse, an RSS militant.

Moreover, another line stating that “He (Gandhi) was particularly disliked by those who wanted Hindus to take revenge or who wanted India to become a country for the Hindus” has also been erased from textbooks which clearly shows the extent to which the Modi government is ready to go just for the sake of promoting a Hindu supremacist ideology.

Modi’s policies are a disservice to the rich diversity and cultural contributions that have shaped India, undermine the essence of a thriving democracy, and the endorsement of divisive slogans and the exclusion of minority voices only deepen the divides within Indian society. It is essential for the Indian society to challenge these policies and call for a system that upholds the significance of an unbiased, inclusive and historically accurate educational system which celebrates the country’s vibrant history and fosters a sense of unity among its people.