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The references to ‘Khalistan’ and ‘separate Sikh nation’, which were mentioned in context of the Anandpur Sahib Resolution, have been dropped from the Class 12 political science textbook of the NCERT, the Union Ministry of Education announced Tuesday.
The changes were made after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) objected to the references. The SGPC Tuesday said that it would study the changes before taking a fresh stand on the issue.
“We will analyse the changes made by the NCERT before dropping our objections. Our experts will look into the matter,” an SGPC spokesman told The Indian Express.
Department of School Education and Literacy Secretary Sanjay Kumar said that the decision to remove the references was taken by an expert committee of the NCERT to prevent possibilities of reading them out of context. The Sikh body’s objection pertained to the mention of the Anandpur Sahib resolution in the book “Politics In India Since Independence”.
The reference to ‘Sikh nation’ has been exercised from the passage: “The resolution also spoke of the aspirations of the Sikh community and declared its goal as attaining the ‘bolbala’ (dominance) 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 sentence “the resolution was a plea for strengthening federalism but it could also be interpreted as a plea for a
separate Sikh nation” had been dropped and rewritten as “the resolution was a plea for strengthening federalism”.
The line, “The more extreme elements started advocating secession from India and the creation of ‘Khalistan’” has also been dropped.
In a statement, the NCERT said, “In view of the representation received from stakeholders, particularly a letter from the SGPC regarding withdrawing objectionable content against Sikh community by misrepresenting Sri Anandpur Sahib Resolution.”
“In this regard, a committee of experts was constituted by the NCERT to examine the issue. The Committee examined the same and as per its recommendation, following changes have been incorporated in Chapter 6 – Regional Aspirations (Rationalised Class 12 political science textbook),” it added.
“A corrigendum has been issued by NCERT. While the physical books for the new academic session have already been printed, the changes will reflect in the digital books,” Kumar added.
The Anandpur Sahib resolution was a document adopted by the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1973. The resolution affirmed the party’s commitment to the Sikh religion and demanded greater autonomy for Punjab. It also demanded that the city of Chandigarh should be handed over to Punjab and that Punjabi should be given second-language status in neighbouring states.
