New Delhi: The Congress has expressed outrage over the contents of a special module released by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) that blames the Congress, Md Ali Jinnah and Louis Mountbatten for the Partition.
Separate versions have been designed for Classes 6-8 and Classes 9-12, outside of the regular textbooks, to mark Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.
According to the module, Partition was not the work of one individual alone but of three forces — “Jinnah, who had been propagating the partition; the Congress, which accepted the partition; and Mountbatten, who had been sent to implement the partition.”
It also notes that Partition turned Kashmir into a new security problem for the country, adding: “Since then, one of our neighbouring countries has been using this problem to put pressure on India in different ways.”
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera has asked for the module to be burnt as it didn’t tell the truth. The Partition, according to him, took place due to a nexus between the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League.
The document refers to the 1940 Lahore Resolution, where Muhammad Ali Jinnah claimed that Hindus and Muslims belonged to “two different villages, philosophy, social customs, and literature.”
The module argues that the British initially sought to keep India united by offering dominion status, but Congress refused this proposal.
It quotes Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as saying that the situation in India had become explosive: “India had become a battlefield and it was better to partition the country than to have a civil war.”
The module notes that Gandhi opposed partition but would not resist Congress’s decision through violence. “He said that he could not be a party to the partition, but he would not stop Congress from accepting it with violence,” it has been stated.
“Eventually, Jawaharlal Nehru and Patel accepted partition. Gandhi later persuaded the Congress Working Committee on June 14, 1947, to also agree to partition,” it has been added.
Mountbatten has also been strongly criticised for preponing the transfer of power. It says: “Mountbatten had announced June 1948 as the date of transfer of power but later preponed it to August 1947.”
The module points out that the hasty demarcation of boundaries caused chaos: “In many places, people did not even know by August 15, whether they were in India or Pakistan.”
Khera has called these facts untrue and said: “Burn this document as it doesn’t tell the truth. Partition happened due to nexus between Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League.”