Saffronisation
Saffronisation
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Saffronisation

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Saffronisation

Saffronisation is the right-wing policy approach in India that seeks to implement Hindu nationalist views to counter the mainstream discourse, for example in school textbooks. Critics have used this political neologism.

Saffron is considered a sacred color in Hinduism, in which it is associated with devotion, purity and the renunciation of worldly desire. Saffron is widely seen as a representative of Hinduism and other Indian religions. However, in current times it has been extensively used as a political symbol by the Hindutva movement .

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claimed that several Indian history textbooks had overt Marxist or Eurocentric political overtones.

The BJP remained in power at centre from 1998 to 2004 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee was PM. He had ordered to change NCERT textbooks and the SCERT books in states where NDA was in power.

There were waves of saffronisation in his tenure, from 1998 to 2004.

The BJP has had trouble changing the textbooks, because many states in which the BJP or NDA is not in power have blocked saffronisation efforts. The BJP, citing a rigid anti-Hindu agenda, restructured SCERTs (of states where NDA was in power), NCERT and the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to make textbooks conform to the BJP's Hindu nationalist platform. In states where the BJP or NDA had control of local government, textbooks were changed extensively to favour a Hindu nationalist narrative.

These changes included the omission of caste-based exclusion and violence throughout Indian history, exclusion or minimisation of contributions to Indian society made by Muslims, omission of world history, and glorifying and elaborating the Hindu rulers' governance and achievements. Minimising details of Muslim & British rule, minimising the role of Congress in freedom struggle, teaching more about India's geography, topography, Political structure of India etc.

In Science & Mathematics books, the Indian scientists and mathematicians were glorified, while the accomplishments of their foreign counterparts were diminished. Vedic Science and Vedic Maths were taught.

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