Not anti-Muslim riots, new NCERT text book will call it Gujarat riots from now
Around 800 Muslims and 250 Hindus were killed in the riots that took place between February and March 2002.
It will be known as Gujarat riots and not anti-Muslim riots in the NCERT textbooks. The decision to term the 2002 incident as Gujarat riots was taken at a meeting of the course review committee that includes representatives of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the National Council of Educational Research And Training (NCERT), HT reported while quoting sources.
The
text
book
for
the
Class
12
which
was
published
when
the
UPA
was
ruling
referred
to
the
incident
as
the
anti-Muslim
riots.
Now
it
will
be
called
as
the
Gujarat
riots
only.
Around
800
Muslims
and
250
Hindus
were
killed
in
the
riots
that
took
place
between
February
and
March
2002.
The
violence
was
a
result
of
the
train
burning
incident
at
Godhra
in
which
57
Hindu
pilgrims
were
killed.
The new text book would effect this change once it is printed. The new text books are expected to be printed by the end of 2017. The NCERT has however termed the move as routine and aimed at keeping the text books updated.
A chapter titled "Politics in India since Independence" (page 187) in the Class XII political science textbook has a passage under the heading "Anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat".
It reads- "In February-March 2002, large-scale violence against Muslims took place in Gujarat .... A bogey of a train that was returning from Ayodhya and was full of karsevaks was set on fire... Suspecting the hands of Muslims in setting fire to the bogey, large-scale violence against Muslims began in many parts of Gujarat..." the passage reads.
OneIndia News