Revision of a Class VIII social science textbook by the National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) has once again brought the issue of the saffronisation of the education system, especially of historiography, to the fore. While the new NCERT outlook may be coloured with the ideological tilt of the ruling coalition, its opponents are not exactly impartial in their criticism.

The book, Exploring Society: Indian and Beyond, informs students about the Sultanate and Mughal periods. It describes Babur as a “brutal and ruthless conqueror, slaughtering entire populations of cities". Akbar, termed as a “blend of brutality and tolerance", fares a shade better. Aurangzeb, too, has been depicted as the destroyer of temples and gurdwaras.

But if the new NCERT books are inaccurate, Left-leaning historians and intellectuals are also presenting facts and arguments that are at variance with reality. For instance, the most visible public historian, Dr Ruchika Sharma, has claimed that the jizya tax was not used to spread Islam.

But Firuz Shah Tughlaq, who ruled during 1351-88, wrote in his autobiography, “I encouraged my infidel subjects to embrace the religion of the Prophet, and I proclaimed that everyone who repeated the creed and became a Musalman should be exempt from the jizya........

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