Tampering of Indian history has confused Congress government in Rajasthan to an extent that it has two versions of the great Maharana Pratap’s valour in its own textbooks.
In its efforts to tarnish the glorifying history of India, Rajasthan government it seems has confused itself by constantly twisting the historical facts and hence is making its students teach two different versions of Haldighati Battle in class X syllabus. While the textbook says that Haldighati battle was inconclusive, its e-book says that Rajput warrior Maharana Pratap lost the battle because he was impatient. The latter part was recently added in an e-book version of Sangharkaleen Bharat 1206 AD-1757 AD.
While this first book praises Rana Pratap for his valour, the RBSE social science textbook for class 10 calls him impatient and adds that he lacked in control. Interestingly, the e-book has now been removed by the RBSE from its website. The chapter titled ‘Sangharshkalin Bharat’ in the social science e-book, says that some historians are of the view that the battle ended inconclusively but several historians are of the view that Pratap lost the battle. Listing the reasons for the loss, it says Pratap lacked the patience, control, and strategy.
This version further adds that Senanayak pratikool paristhitiyon mein jis dhairya, sanyam aur yojana ki awashyakta hoti hai, uka abhaav tha. However, these facts were missing in the textbooks which the students have been studying since last one year. Eventually, the issue sparked off a major controversy with Rajput community amongst all other castes and segments coming together to protest the move of state government.
Looking at the raising temperaments of people, the state government removed e-version of the book from the website in an overnight development. Blaming the RBSE for Pratap fiasco, state education minister Govind Singh Dotasara said, “Guilty shall be punished. It is RBSE who has brought in objectionable version in e-book. Dotasara further said that the RBSE committee shall look into the issues and remove anything which is objectionable and unwanted.
Meanwhile, Mahendra Singh Mewar of the erstwhile Mewar royal family has strongly condemned the tampering of the historical facts. “The attempts to tarnish the image of warriors Maharana Pratap and Udai Singh shall not be tolerated. “Who are these people who want to change the history of Haldi Ghati? He questioned.
It needs to be mentioned here that Rajasthan Board of secondary Education textbooks also narrated that Pratap’s father Udai Singh was a murderer in the state board’s books. He has been termed as a man who murdered one Balvir to capture the Mewar property, however, many history books have proved the Balvir died somewhere in Maharashtra as he ran off from Mewar. It needs to be mentioned here that the Haldighati war was fought between Akbar’s Mughal army and Pratap’s Rajput warriors.
2 RBSE books of class X show different versions on warrior Maharana Pratap. One says Haldighati battle was inconclusive while other says Rajput warrior Maharana Pratap lost it because he was impatient.
Another ex-royal of Mewar family Vishvaraj Singh also condemned the entire change in narration of historical facts.
“History distorted to an absurd extent and included in text books for schools. Abundant display of ignorance and crass, boorish mentality of the decision making authority(s) in peddling distortions to suit their own agenda. History itself will not be kind to them, nor to those who accept their ways.,” he said.
In fact, many facts have been distorted in the the class X e-book which says that Haldhighati was not named due to the yellow colour of the soil but because many newly wed brides jumped into battleground while wearing turmeric on their face. The fact has been taken from Mahednra Bhanawat’s book ‘Ajooba Bharat Ka.”
It further says that Mughal Sena was led by Jagannath Kachwaha but historians till date have been saying that the Mughals were led by Man Singh. Kuchhwaha came to Mewar in 1576 after eight years of the battle, says the earlier records.
Meanwhile, Rajsamand MP, Diya Kumari criticised the move and said that the Congress Government’s ‘historians’ have insulted Maharana Udai Singh, Maharana Pratap and Haldighati. “By manipulating the personality of an ideal man like Maharana Udai Singh, the Government is bent on ruining the image of its great men. The act of tampering with history only takes place under the Congress rule. What kind of a message does the Government want to give to the younger generation?
The State Government, which addressed Maharana Udai Singh of Mewar as Balvir’s killer in the Rajasthan board books has tampered with history. They are neither worried about the pride of the State nor the feelings of the people. Not only this it has also been written in these books that in the Haldighati war, newlywed women donned men’s clothing and fought the war. Writing such shameful and false facts is a public insult to the great warriors who sacrificed their lives for the pride and dignity of the motherland,” she said.
Meanwhile, Congress minister Pratap Singh Khachriyawas under chief minster Ashok Gehlot also stood with the people and said that these books shall never be allowed to reach to students as they have twisted facts from history. Strong action shall be taken against the committee who changed the real facts. I shall meet CM Ashok Gehlot in this context, he added.
Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat also criticized the misleading facts about Maharana Pratap cited in textbooks and said that the history of Marudhara has been insulted by the Rajasthan Education Department who gave misleading facts about Maharana Pratap, Rana Uday Singh, the royal family of Mewar and Haldi Valley which are unacceptable.
Meanwhile, historian Dr. Chandrashekhar Sharma, who wrote the portion on Maharana Pratap in the textbook published last year, says a lot of the portion on Maharana Pratap has been cut short and changes have been made in the text without his consultation even though he is mentioned as the author. He said several positive aspects of Maharana Pratap which he had highlighted have been removed. “I mentioned about Rana Pratap’s one-on-one dialogues with Man Singh, who was the commander of Akbar’s army but that portion has been deleted.
The book also edited the mentioning of an interesting episode where Rana Pratap scolded his son Amar Singh for capturing women in the zenana of Abdul Rahim Khankhana, a commander of Akbar, however, he asked his son to return the women with all respect. I have put down points with evidence supporting the fact that Maharana Pratap had won the Haldighati battle but that entire portion has been scrapped, he added.
Meanwhile, the book has united people from all class, political parties including Congress and BJP as well as royal families and Rajput associations who have condemned the distortion of facts. People from all sections have started ‘Hamara Itihaas, hamara gaurav’ campaign on social media to spread awareness on real facts of history.
Different associations have come up in protest and are submitting memorandum to the district collector requesting him to stop the constant tampering of history by certain people.
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