Minister accuses Centre of distorting history amid NCERT textbook row

Karnataka Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao slammed the Centre for distorting history with 'RSS ideology' in textbooks. This comes as the Supreme Court issued a notice to NCERT over a chapter on corruption in the judiciary in a Class 8 textbook.

Minister Accuses Centre of Distorting History

Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Thursday launched an attack against the Centre, accusing it of creating an "RSS and Hindu ideology-based history of India" amid the row over the judiciary chapter in NCERT. Speaking to ANI, the Minister criticised the issues of misrepresentation and distortion of the history and culture of the country by the BJP. "...There are so many objectionable things happening today, distorting history and misrepresenting issues regarding our culture. I think the Supreme Court may have been moved because this case is connected to them. But there are many things happening where history has been distorted by the BJP government. They want to create a new history of India based not on facts but on their RSS ideology, their Hindutva ideology, and the BJP ideology, and that is being pushed into textbooks. I hope the same rules will be applied to everybody else," he said.

Supreme Court Issues Notice to NCERT

This comes after the Supreme Court of India, earlier today, issued show cause notices to the Secretary of the Department of Education and Literacy (Ministry of Education) and NCERT Director Dinesh Prashad Saklani, asking them to explain why action should not be taken under contempt or other laws for including a sub-chapter titled "Corruption in the judiciary" in the Class 8 NCERT Social Science textbook.

Court Imposes Ban, Seeks Records

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice Vipul M Pancholi refused to halt suo motu proceedings despite NCERT's apology over the controversial inclusion and imposed a blanket ban on the textbook section. The court warned that any attempt to bypass the order would be considered direct interference with the administration of justice and could attract contempt of court. The Supreme Court has also directed NCERT to submit detailed records of the Teaching-Learning Materials Committee that approved the chapter, including the names, qualifications, and credentials of all members of the development team.

NCERT Issues Apology

Meanwhile, NCERT had earlier issued an apology and stated that it would review and revise the chapter following proper consultation, acknowledging that the reference to corruption was inappropriate.

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