“We remain strangers even after so many meetings, blood stains remain even after so many rains” – this is one of translated quotes penned by Urdu poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, which has now been removed by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) from the 2022-23 academic curriculum, reported The Indian Express.
Also axed from the 'Religion, Communalism and Politics – Communalism, Secular State' section of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)’s class 10 textbook is another translated excerpt from one of Faiz's poems, which says that it is "not enough to shed tears, to suffer anguish, not enough to nurse love in secret… Today, walk in the public square fettered in chains.”
While the segment on 'Religion, Communalism and Politics' will continue to be a part of the class 10 Social Science course, only images on page 46, 48, and 49 have been scrapped. These images carry two posters and one cartoon.
While one of the posters carrying illustrations of Faiz's quotes were issued by ANHAD, an NGO co-founded by activists Harsh Mander, Shabnam Hashmi and others, the other was provided by the Voluntary Health Association of India.
The cartoon that has been removed, was drawn by Ajith Ninan. It featured an empty chair with multireligious iconography and reads, "This chair is for the CM-designate, to prove his secular credentials... There will pe plenty of rocking!"
Additionally, chapters on "democracy and diversity," which introduce students to social divisions in India and across the world while listing "challenges to democracy," too, have been removed.
Moreover, a chapter on Central Islamic Lands in the history course for class 11, a section on "impact of globalization on agriculture" in class 10 and a chapter on the Non-alignment Movement of the cold war era too have been kept out.
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