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Journalism of Courage
While the judiciary is yet to pronounce a verdict on the Ayodhya case, the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) seems to have reached a conclusion already.
In the latest Medieval India textbook for Class XI, released by NCERT today, Meenakshi Jain writes Babar ‘‘sponsored’’ mosques ‘‘at places sacred to Hindu tradition’’ in Sambhal, where the 10th and last avatar of Vishnu was to appear, and Ayodhya ‘‘revered as the birthplace of Lord Rama’’.
Jain then describes how Jehangir pulled down Hindu shrines and Shah Jahan did no better by refusing funds to temples. ‘‘Jahangir also built a hunting palace on the banks of the Pushkar tank, thus registering Mughal presence in one of the holiest Hindu teerthas,’’ Jain writes.
The book has several such nuggets on temple destruction by Islamic rulers.
The text replaces the earlier one by historian Satish Chandra, which NCERT claims had hurt Jain and Sikh sentiments.
Since this book has come at the end of the academic session, it would probably be introduced only in the next year.
The debate on the quality and content of the last two NCERT publications is still raging with the HRD Minister facing flak in the Lok Sabha a week ago.
