Do We Need Unbiased Books, Unbiased Readers, or Leaders: The Vicious Trap
“One individual may die, but that idea will after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives’’- Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
Recently, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) announced that tampering with the historical facts in textbooks will be considered unacceptable.
One of the Indian politician Gulabchand Kataria said, ‘“The twisting of the story of Haldighati battle fought by Maharana Pratap and the description of Udai Singh in historical books is more like polluting the glorious historical tales which has also affected public sentiments”. He further added, ‘“I appeal to the CM that text in the books should be re-evaluated by forming a new committee comprising learned historians before the public comes on the street protesting against the wrong facts being put in these books. Putting twisted facts in history books is an injustice both to history and Rajasthan”.
Soon after the statement a lot of the people like me were left in a state of limbo, and speculation amongst the citizens circulated regarding the sheer objective behind regulating the content of the textbooks. Being a graduate in History myself from the University of Delhi, I still remember how often we had to engage in a debate with those from the other department regarding the significance of the subject. Even then the question that always used to linger at the back of my mind was why in particular the government regulates the content within the history books.
As the contemporary generation is more or less busy debating on the morality of the government based on their understanding between the ‘left’ and the ‘right’- I wonder whether it’s the fault of our leaders? Sure, the gift of democracy is that you are bestowed with power as a citizen of overthrowing the government in case you are dissatisfied with it, my question is that in order to do so do we need to jeopardize the image of the person who is appointed as a leader? Or if so what about the authors who are inculcating the ideology through their words that the leaders might have read at one point during childhood? Why have we never questioned the authors to justify their narratives?
It’s ironic that in a country as vast as India, wherein, half of the population still struggles for a decent education, the texts have been infused with biased narratives. Adding to this what bamboozles my mind is that a certain section of the employed academics, blindly orate the words that are printed without even questioning or even resonating with the text. Moreover, the fear of either losing the job or of getting transferred that circulates amongst the faculty while they teach any fragile subject further adds to the entire chaos.
Therefore, whether you transform into a human version of the principles of RSS or that of the French ideology — liberty, equality, and fraternity is merely the outcome of something that you can’t control.
As per my point of view, it seems like a chain process, the books-> the readers-> the preachers-> the believers-> the supporters-> the leaders. Therefore, I am left puzzled wondering whether who is to decide what’s wrong or what’s right? And who is to be blamed?
