Hindu groups in California are
up in arms against suggested revisions to the state’s school textbooks.
The Hindu American Foundation
(HAF), a non-profit advocacy group of the Hindu American community, says the
suggested revisions to public school textbooks in California reinforce cultural
stereotypes and historical inaccuracies.
California reviews its
textbooks and teacher guidelines every six years, with this year being a year
of review. The state education board is scheduled to issue a final draft of the
guidelines for changes in May. As the date nears, HAF has been making its
protest louder. On April 6, the organization launched a social media campaign,
#DontEraseIndia, urging “correction of inaccuracies.”
“People are passionate about
the way they are portrayed in history. We welcome that and invite them to
participate in the lengthy public comment and review process,” Bill Ainsworth,
communications director at the California department of education said in an
email. Past reviews have sparked spirited debates, Ainsworth noted, citing
discussions surrounding the so-called “comfort women” in World War II, the role
of LGBT Americans in California history, the Armenian genocide, and the
discrimination faced by Sikh Americans.
South Asia
or India
Hindu groups such as HAF have
particularly opposed a proposed suggestion to replace “India” with “South Asia”
in textbooks. The group of South Asian faculty contracted to review the
textbooks has suggested replacing India with South Asia at various places in
the Californian text framework. For example:
Current text: In this unit
students learn about ancient societies in India.
Suggested change: In this unit
students learn about ancient societies in South Asia.
Or
Current text: A flourishing
urban civilization developed in India from as early as 3300 BCE along the Indus
River.
Suggested change: A
flourishing urban civilization developed in South Asia from as early as 3300
BCE along the Indus River.
Or
Current text: Along the
northern edge of the agricultural regions of China, India, Persia and Rome, in
the steppe grasslands, pastoral nomad societies moved east and west.
Suggested change: Along the
northern edge of the agricultural regions of China, South Asia, Persia and
Rome, in the steppe grasslands, pastoral nomad societies moved east and west.
The reason behind these
suggestions is that certain parts referred to as ancient India are now in
Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Bangladesh, according to the South Asian faculty (pdf).
Hindu groups have also opposed
certain depictions of Hinduism and related beliefs. For instance, South Asian
faculty has proposed to remove a reference to river Saraswati—a river
mentioned in ancient Indian texts and believed to have disappeared around 4,000
years ago.
The river is considered holy
by many Hindus. Soon after the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party
government came to power in India in May 2014, they launched efforts to trace
Saraswati. Several states in India are trying to find and establish the
existence of the perhaps mythical river.
Objections from Hindu groups
are also targeted at proposed edits like
removing the mention of Hinduism’s acceptance of religious diversity, removing
mentions of contributions of Hindu sages of non-Brahmin backgrounds, and
linking Hinduism with caste.
Political
agendas
In a February 2006 cover
story, Siliconeer, a monthly magazine for south Asians on the west coast, said
the changes in curriculum that HAF was pushing for reflected “chauvinistic political agendas,
seeking to equate the history of India with the history of Hinduism, and the
living, diverse religion of Hinduism with a Brahmanical, Vedic religion frozen
in time for thousands of years.”
The magazine also said that HAF was a front organisation
of the Hindu fundamentalist and hardline group, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. HAF has denied any such
connection.
Several south Asian scholars
have also raised concerns about the motives of these Hindu groups.
In a letter (pdf) to the
California board of education in November 2005, Michael Witzel, Wales Professor
of Sanskrit at Harvard University, said that the Hindu groups were lobbying to
hide India’s history of caste apartheid, gender disparity, and sectarian
violence. Witzel’s letter represented four dozen scholars.
“The proposed revisions are
not of a scholarly but of a religious-political nature, and are primarily
promoted by Hindutva supporters and non-specialist academics writing about
issues far outside their areas of expertise,” Witzel said. “There are
ill-concealed political agendas behind these views that are well-known to
researchers and tens of millions of non-Hindu Indians, who are routinely
discriminated against by these groups.”
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