By the Editor
As soon as the dust of the election began to settle down, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of the BJP, who received a strong mandate for a second consecutive term, spoke for a uniform code across the country at every opportunity. Recently, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told party functionaries at the BJP office in Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh, that “ it is time to focus on a uniform code”.
Within a few days, UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Maurya remarked that the UP government is seriously contemplating to bring the proposed uniform civil code into force in the state. He added, “Laws should be the same for all… Our government is going to implement the uniform code. There is a serious discussion on this in all BJP-governed states”.
Prior to this, the Union Home Minister said that the uniform code would be implemented in Uttarakhand as a pilot project. The Constitution of India under Fundamental Rights, guarantees Right to Equality, Right to Freedom, Right against Exploitation, Right to Freedom of Religion, Cultural and Educational Rights, Saving of Certain Laws and Right to Constitutional Remedies.
All along minorities have lived peacefully and enjoyed rights and privileges without any hindrance. Another disturbing news is revision of the Central Board of School Education (CBSE) syllabus in the name of rationalisation and as per recommendation of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). Chapters about Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), Cold War era, rise of Islamic empires in Afro-Asian territories, chronicles of Mughal courts and Industrial Revolution from history and political science syllabi of classes 11 and 12 have been dropped. With regard to class 10 syllabus, the topic “impact of globalisation on agriculture” from a chapter on “food security” has been left out.
Translated works from Urdu of Faiz Ahmed on “Religion, Communalism and Politics- Communalism, Secular State” were removed. Even course content chapters on “democracy and diversity” were not included. Usually, before revision and making syllabi up-to-date, the government asks for feedback from state governments, educationists, scholars and stakeholders at every level as education is a concurrent subject. The Board admits that this is not the first time that certain chapters have been dropped from syllabi. Exercise by the Board hints at uncomfortable feelings by the majority community with certain sections
which according to them unnecessarily glorify minorities.
The main question however, is why chapters on “democracy” and “diversity” were dropped when all along India is historically known as the biggest democratic country in the world whose citizens belong to different cultures speaking various languages and professing different religions. Admittedly, in the past, they came as invaders lured by its wealth and splendor but in course of time settled down permanently and adopted India as their own country.
None can deny the fact that native Indians are the Adivasis and others like the Aryans came as conquerors, who subdued, vanquished and pushed them into the interior. History is based on facts no matter what and not on convenience of the majority community nor change of government. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said, ”What experience and history teach is this- that people and governments never have learned anything from history or acted on principles deduced from it”.