‘Itihashe Hatekhari’: These children’s books link history to everyday life in the present and past

History is being tested in India. Education and textbooks have continuously been at the centre of scrutiny amidst the rise of the Hindu nationalist BJP government. Textbooks vary, not only from state to state but from school to school. Both the state and central government produce their own textbooks. Local schools can base their instruction on curriculums supplied by either the central government or the state governments. However, as younger generations in India seek greater mobility across the subcontinent, there has been an increased prioritisation of national examinations based on central government curricula.

Under the BJP’s influence, significant changes have been made to school textbooks, framing India’s history with a Hindu-centric focus. History has been constantly evoked as a space for political and ideological debate by the current BJP government. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken at length about so-called “concocted narratives” in modern retellings of India’s history, disputing the place of non-Hindus in India’s history.

Countering fascism

“History is a very political subject in the sense that all governments have their own kind of histories to push,” said Anwesha Sengupta, a historian and academic at the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata. “If you ask me, is this unprecedented? No, it is not. But the degree is unprecedented, and the ideology is…

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