BJP's Rahul-Jinnah analogy over NCERT module blaming Congress for Partition

New Delhi, Aug 16 (IANS) Amid the brewing controversy over National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT)’s new module blaming three entities for 1947 Partition – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Viceroy Lord Mountbatten and the Congress party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday upped the ante on the grand old party and accused it of facilitating division of the country, on basis of religion.

Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia drew an analogy between Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Pakistan founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and said that it was because of the grand old party that the country witnessed the horrors of Partition.

He said that Jinnah and Rahul’s thoughts are similar, and both have become synonymous with each other.

“Poisonous politics of appeasement and stoking communal discord, which Jinnah dwelled on, is visible in Rahul’s approach today,” he remarked.

Jinnah used to say that Sharia should define the lives of the Muslim community, and today’s Congress party stands nowhere different from this, he added.

He further said that the new generation has a right to know why partition happened and what the reason was behind it.

“When questions about Partition will be raised, the grand old party will owe an explanation as to why the division of the country took place in 1947,” he said.

Former Rajya Sabha member Rakesh Sinha also saw merit in NCERT’s manual, documenting the role of the Congress party in the country’s division on religious lines.

He said that Jinnah was a communal ideologue, who sowed discord and hatred in the minds of people and termed British Viceroy Lord Mountbatten as the ‘evil force’ who was sent to execute it.

However, the blame squarely falls on the Congress party as it gave up before the communal forces and voices, despite being the only political force at that time, he said.

“Had Congress not practised a policy of appeasement since 1909, the Partition wouldn’t have happened. In spite of crushing communal forces, Congress embraced such forces with both hands,” the former Parliamentarian pointed out.

The NCERT module, created for 'Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’ that sparked controversy, blamed three figures for the Partition of India -- first, Jinnah, who demanded it, second, the Congress, which accepted it; and third, Mountbatten, who implemented it."

Two separate modules have been prepared - one for Classes 6 to 8 (middle stage) and another for Classes 9 to 12 (secondary stage).

--IANS

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