Assam may remove chapters on Mughal Empire from Class XII syllabus, says AHSEC

The Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) has announced that it is willing to make necessary adjustments to the Class XII syllabus if required, in order to remove chapters on the Mughal Empire. However, the council has not yet made a final decision on this matter. Textbooks that include these chapters have already been distributed among students in Class XII, as the academic session began on April 1st in the state.

AHSEC Secretary, Pulak Patgiri, has stated that the new textbooks with lessons on the Mughal Empire are already in the hands of the students. Therefore, the finalization of the syllabus to be studied for exams will be a significant factor in this matter. Patgiri also stated that if NCERT textbooks exclude the Mughals, then they may no longer teach the same chapters on them.

Sources in AHSEC have stated that the Mughals may be excluded from the exam syllabus, even if books with these chapters have already been distributed. Although NCERT books on history are followed by AHSEC-affiliated schools, lessons on Assam history are also incorporated into the same book that contains information on the Mughals. The Assam part of the history textbook has lessons from the time of Mir Jumla (1661-62), the Nawab of Bengal, who was ordered by Aurangzeb to attack Assam.

AHSEC have stated that the state board may face difficulties in removing the Mughals entirely from Assam's history since the glory of Assam's iconic hero, Lachit Borphukan, and the Ahom rule have inseparable links with the Mughal Empire. Lachit Borphukan was an Ahom general who prevented the Mughals from occupying Assam permanently. He was the famous general of the Royal Army of the Ahom kingdom who defeated the Mughals in the 1671 Battle of Saraighat and halted Aurangzeb's expanding ambitions.

Meanwhile, state BJP leaders have supported the removal of chapters on the Mughals, stating that they cannot read or write about attackers with pride. Pijush Hazarika, the state information minister and senior BJP leader, stated that those parties seeking votes of the descendants of Mughals will obviously support teaching the "glory" of the Mughals.

However, the leader of the opposition, Debabrata Saikia, accused the BJP of attempting to rewrite history. He added that BJP leaders and their idols did not play any role in the freedom struggle, and they want to hide history to deceive the people of India. He further added that students would read the complete history, even if boards remove chapters on the Mughals. He also pointed out that the Mughal era was not entirely dark in Indian history, as thousands of people visit the monuments built by the Mughals, boosting tourism over the years.