NCERT Removes Khalistan Reference From Class 12th Political Science Textbook

As a part of revising National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks, the council has removed the reference of Khalistan in the class 12th political science book. The lines from the chapter 7 Regional Aspirations of the class 12th political science book which informs students about a separate Sikh nation referring to the creation of Khalistan have been dropped by the council. A paragraph on former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination remains part of the political science textbook.

The decision to proceed was made after hearing from several parties, especially after the Ministry of Education received a letter from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. The letter made reference to removing allegedly offensive material that maligned the Sri Anandpur Sahib Resolution and was directed at the Sikh community. The resolution was adopted in 1973 at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab by a group of Akalis (a group involved in gurdwara reform) who had started to call for political autonomy for the area by redefining the relationship between the Centre and the State.

Sanjay Kumar, Secretary (School Education), Ministry of Education, stated that while the print versions of the rationalised books are currently available and may not reflect the change, the digital soft copy of the Class 12 textbook has been uploaded on the NCERT website with the required adjustments. The Shiromani Akali Dal approved the Anandpur Sahib resolution in 1973. The party’s adherence to the Sikh faith was reaffirmed in the resolution, which also called for increased autonomy for Punjab. Additionally, it sought that Chandigarh be transferred to Punjab and that Punjabi be recognised as a second language in adjacent states.

The main source of contention was the omission of certain of these contentious deletions from the notifications of the modifications made as part of the rationalisation effort. This sparked claims of a covert attempt to remove certain passages. A few months after NCERT removed the mention of the 2022 racial unrest from two class 12 textbooks, the passages referencing the Gujarat riots were also removed from the sociology textbook for classes 11 and 12.