Decades of Debate: The Emergency's Scar on India's Textbooks

It took three decades for India's controversial Emergency period under Indira Gandhi to be included in NCERT political science textbooks in 2007. The Emergency is still a contentious topic, with more recent textbook revisions removing several references to that era. This article details the ongoing debate and implications of those changes.

The tumultuous 21-month Emergency period declared by Indira Gandhi in 1975 took nearly three decades to be acknowledged in Indian school textbooks. Under the Congress-led UPA government, it was not until 2007 that it formally entered NCERT's Class 12 curriculum. These changes, seen as autonomous academic decisions at the time, introduced comprehensive coverage of the period's political crisis.

Despite initial inclusion, more recent revisions by the BJP government in 2023 pruned several aspects of the Emergency narrative as part of a broader curriculum rationalisation. This move has been met with criticism from historical and political scholars, including those who originally contributed to the textbooks. They argue that omitting details compromises educational objectivity and historical accuracy.

Critics emphasize the importance of presenting raw and factual accounts of the Emergency to ensure that history does not repeat itself. However, the political sensitivities surrounding the period continue to spark debate over textbook content, as both sides of the political spectrum grapple with how the events should be taught to future generations.

(With inputs from agencies.)