The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has dropped two lines referring to the ‘Anandpur Sahib resolution of 1973’ from Class 12 political science textbook on request of the top Sikh body, which found this content “objectionable”.
According to officials, upon receiving a series of representation from the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), regarding removal of “objectionable content relating to Sri Anandpur Sahib resolution misrepresenting Sikh community”, a committee of experts was constituted. The committee, upon studying the text, recommended dropping it from the chapter. The requests were first made by the SGPC this April.
The lines dropped from chapter-VII ‘Regional Aspirations’ from rationalised Class 12 political science textbook are — “But, it could also be interpreted as a plea for a separate Sikh nation (from para 1)”; and “(from para 2) the more extreme elements started advocating secession from India and the creation of Khalistan”.
The first para talks about the 1970s when a section of Akalis began to demand political autonomy for the region. “This was reflected in the resolution passed at their conference at Anandpur Sahib in 1973….The resolution also spoke of the aspirations of the Sikh quam (community) and declared its goal at attaining the bolbala (dominance or hegemony) of the Sikhs. The resolution was a plea for strengthening federalism, but it could also be interpreted as a plea for a separate Sikh nation,” the paragraph in the textbook states.
The para, following this, further talks about the resolution, which it states had a limited appeal among the Sikh masses. “After the Akali government had been dismissed in 1980, the Akali Dal launched a movement on the question of distribution of water between Punjab and its neighbouring states. A section of the religious leaders raised the question of autonomous Sikh identity. The more extreme elements started advocating secession from India and the creation of Khalistan,” reads the second para.
This textbook was based on the 2005 curriculum framework and was developed in 2006, said officials.
In March, a row had erupted on changes being made “silently” in the NCERT political science, sociology and history textbooks of Classes 10, 11and 12 without putting these on the list of ‘rationalised syllabi’. These deletions included important topics refering to Nathu Ram Godse and the Mughal history, among others.
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