Removing Mughals from textbooks ‘nonsense’, Indian historian Romila Thapar
Kozhikode: Eminent Indian historian Romila Thapar has termed the removal of entire dynasties such as the Mughals from school textbooks as “nonsense,” stressing that history is a continuous process that cannot be taught in fragments.
According to Kashmir Media Service, speaking online at the ninth Kerala Literature Festival, Thapar said that selectively discarding chapters or dynasties breaks historical continuity and distorts understanding of the past. She said history represents the evolution of peoples, cultures, ideas, and social behaviour, and cannot be reshaped to suit political or ideological agendas.
Her remarks come amid reports that India’s National Council of Educational Research and Training has revised Class 7 social science textbooks for the 2025–26 academic year, removing chapters on the Delhi Sultanate and the Mughals while placing greater emphasis on ancient Indian dynasties.
Thapar also expressed concern over the growing influence of so-called popular history on social media, warning that it often blurs the line between professional scholarship and opinion. She urged people to rely on trained historians for accurate interpretations of historical events.
The veteran historian further underlined the importance of feminist perspectives in history and called for women to assert intellectual independence and critical thinking in professional spaces.
Her comments have sparked renewed debate over the politicisation of education by the Modi regime in India and attempts to reshape historical narratives through textbook revisions.
