Nagpur: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Sunil Ambekar on Friday said many positive changes have been introduced in history textbooks, and epithet ‘the great’ is no longer used to describe Mughal emperor Akbar or Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan.
Although the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has brought these changes, “nobody has been removed” from these textbooks as the new generation should know their cruel deeds.
Ambekar was addressing a gathering at the Orange City Literature festival organised by SGR Knowledge Foundation here.
“India has vast and rich resources of ancient knowledge, which if we learn and understand can help us a lot in our lives. This rich knowledge can be given to the world as well, but for that we also need to focus on that knowledge,” the Akhil Bharatiya Prachar Pramukh of the RSS said.
“Now, history textbooks are changing and I am very happy that NCERT took a very good initiative and made changes in the books of 11 classes out of the textbooks of 15 classes. The changes in the books of Classes 9, 10 and 12 will be introduced next year,” he said.
“I could see that many good changes have been brought in the history books, and more could be done in the future. But now, they (history textbooks) do not have ‘Akbar the Great’ nor do they have ‘Tipu Sultan the Great’. Many changes have been brought, although nobody has been removed from these books as the new generation should know their cruel deeds and should also know because of whom we were victimised and from whom we should be free,” he said.
Some people say this should not be said but this cannot happen and it should be told.
Ambekar also talked about Nalanda University and said that people think that only Ved Puran, Ramayana and Mahabharata were taught there.
“But if you go through the syllabus of Nalanda University, you will get to know what was taught there. It is a very old university,” he said.
Along with literature, 76 types of skill-based courses were also taught in Nalanda University, which were taught to all and these skills included farming, urban planning, make-up, secret agent, political governance, mechanisation and several others, Ambekar said.
According to the RSS leader, India is prospering and we should think about what our future society should be like.
People across the world kept compromising on their civilization and culture in the process of development, and surrendered to the markets and new technologies. Although it brought facilities, it came at the cost of personal and family life, our values and relations, he added.
Talking about Ram temple in Ayodhya, he said some people think why RSS put all its strength for the construction of this temple.
“I would say it was not just about building the temple…It was built, but we should think about our relation with Lord Ram along with the temple. What is our relationship with the culture of Lord Ram, what is the meaning of the culture of Ram and what relationship does it have with the culture of our country and our future life. It was a campaign to make people understand all this and it was done very nicely and I think now the youth are keeping self respect about the dharma,” he said.
Ambekar praised the country’s youth, saying the new generation is very able and has all the exposure.
They are very patriotic and patriotism is a cool thing for them, he said.
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