NCERT module blames Congress for Partition; party says Hindu Mahasabha first suggested the idea

The Opposition Congress alleged here on Saturday (August 16, 2025) that the ‘Culprits of Partition’, a segment in the course module designed by the NCERT for Classes 6 to 8, is a distortion of history. The module blamed the Congress and then All India Muslim League leader Mohammad Ali Jinnah for the Partition.

The module is a supplementary resource for Classes 6 to 8 (middle stage) – not part of regular textbooks – and is meant to be used for projects, posters, discussions and debates

The NCERT module said: “Ultimately, on August 15, 1947, India was divided. But this was not the doing of any one person. There were three elements responsible for the Partition of India: Jinnah, who demanded it; second, the Congress, which accepted it; and third, Mountbatten [then Viceroy], who implemented it.” 

Asked about the NCERT module blaming the trio, Congress leader Pawan Khera said the book can be torn up if it didn’t mention the role of the Hindu Mahasabha. “In 1938, the Hindu Mahasabha at their national convention on the banks of Sabarmati in Gujarat first proposed that the Hindus and Muslims stay separately. This was endorsed by the Lahore session of the Muslim League in 1940. Then, in 1942, the coalition government in Sindh province, formed by the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League, adopted a resolution,” Mr. Khera said at a press conference. “If these dates are not mentioned in the NCERT book, it should be torn up,” he added.

Senior Congress leader and MP Manish Tewari said on social media that the two-nation theory that finally led to the Partition of India pre-dates Partition by at least seven decades, if not more. “It had proponents on both sides – Muslims and Hindus,” he said, providing quotes over those seven decades from various people such as V.D. Savarkar, Syed Ahmed Khan, Bhai Parmanand and Lala Lajpat Rai. “In any case, the Partition was not the partition of India but of two of its provinces – Punjab and Bengal. The NCERT chapter on Partition Horror’s is a case of distorting history,” Mr. Tewari said, adding that in the North West Frontier Province, the Hindu Mahasabha members joined hands with Sardar Aurang Zeb Khan of the Muslim League to form a government in 1943. “The Mahasabha member of the Cabinet was Finance Minister Mehar Chand Khanna,” he said.

The module released to mark “Partition Horrors Remembrance Day” said the Partition happened due to wrong ideas. “The party of Indian Muslims, the Muslim League, held a conference in Lahore in 1940. Its leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, said that Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and literatures,” the module said.

(With PTI inputs)