Indian history textbooks are therefore replete with historical errors, biases and prejudices. They abound in outdated theories and assumptions. The BJP-led State governments for their part have not been content with leaving these as they are. Rather they have chosen to reinforce these weaknesses biases and distortions in shockingly egregious ways.

One historical period that has been completely reworked is the freedom movement. Here the BJP has reinvented its past and put the RSS and its leaders at the forefront of the historic struggle for national liberation, creating a history that is patently false. This has been done, among other things, to wash off the stains of past villainy -- the abject collaboration with British imperialism and the RSS' culpability, proven beyond doubt, in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

A 1993 report of the NCERT provides shocking examples of the RSS approach to the reinvention of history. The report pertained to the tenure of the first Kalyan Singh ministry in U.P., which ended in 1992. Many of the changes made in the textbooks in the state were subsequently reversed, though the present government led by Kalyan Singh has declared its intention to reintroduce them.

The first clutch of biases mentioned in the report pertain to the identification of the outsider, or the foreigner, very early in Indian history, and the resistance to them shown by the people of India, who are obviously characterised as the Hindus. Thus, the Aryans were the original inhabitants of India, they built the Harappan civilisation and the achievements of ancient Indian civilisation surpassed all others. For example in High School Itihas: bhag 1, one of the sentences altered during Kalyan Singh's tenure, reads as follows: "With the finds of bones of horses, their toys and yagna altars, scholars are beginning to believe that the people of the Harappan and Vedic civilisations were the same''. There is, needless to say, no historical basis for this assertion.

On the emphasis given in the textbooks to Indian culture and civilisation, "as being the true Indian culture'', the report of the NCERT notes that it is "meant to ignore and to denigrate the cultural development during the medieval period as something un- or anti-Indian, the entire medieval period, in any case, being a period of foreign rule and, hence, or struggle for national independence''. India's freedom struggle began 2,500 years ago, the textbooks assert and this "national resistance'' has been neglected in history textbooks because of a "western conspiracy''. Those figures in Indian history who fought for their own kingdoms became, in textbooks, fighters for national liberation. All these movements build up to the freedom movement, and here the founder of the RSS is projected as one of the greatest leaders. As the NCERT report noted: "The inclusion of references to RSS and its founder in chapters dealing with the history of the freedom movement are meant to provide respectability to and legitimise the role of Hindu communal organisations and their leaders''.

The NCERT report makes the point that the books that were being used before 1992 were also communally biased and factually incorrect. But the changes made in 1992 gave them a "blatantly communal orientation''. The period of medieval Indian history, in particular, "abounds in historical falsehoods''. An example is the following material, which was added to High School Itihas: Bhag 1: "The Indian society during the Sultanate period was divided into two main classes -- ruling or Muslim class and ruled or non-Muslims of whom Hindus were the majority''. Another is the following from the same text: "Hindu was merely the payer of taxes. In spite of being conquered in the political field, Hindus did not lose courage. To regain their lost independence, they went on raising their voice from time to time. Because of this, historians have called this period as the period of resistance''.

Where modern history is concerned, the second volume of the series devotes three pages to K.B. Hedgewar, while covering the entire freedom movement in 20 pages. Recently, it was discovered independently, that the Class VII general knowledge text of the Saraswati Sishu Mandir had the following questions: "Why is Mulayam Singh Yadav called the Ravan of the modern age?'' "When did Babar destroy the Ram temple and construct the Babri Masjid?'' "How many Hindus were killed by Mulayam Singh Yadav's bullets during the attempt to demolish the Babri Masjid?''

The reverses suffered in U.P. did not deter the BJP from continuing with its ideological project. It has now emerged that substantial amendments and additions have been made in school textbooks in Rajasthan, to propagate the image of the BJP and foster the skewed habits of thinking much favoured in that party. After the May 1998 nuclear explosions in the Rajasthan desert, school textbooks were revised to impress upon young minds that enormous benefits were conferred on the country as a consequence.

Writings of RSS ideologues on subjects ranging from matters of science to ruminations over the loss of the Sindhu (Indus) river to the ``other side'', abound in the new Rajasthan texts. In one of them, A New Collection of Poems and Literary Writings (or, Nutan Gadya Padya Sangraha, as the original Hindi title runs), there are among other things, articles by Rajendra Singh, chief of the RSS; Tarun Vijay, editor of the RSS weekly Panchajanya; K.C. Sudarshan, one of the presiding troika of RSS ideologues; and Jalamsingh Ravlot, of the RSS sponsored Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. All four articles were introduced during 1998.

While Rajendra Singh waxes eloquent on the quality of science and scientists in ancient India, Tarun Vijay laments the loss of the Indus and wonders why it does not flow through Bharat as it used to. Sudarshan advocates the revival of an ancient approach in dealing with the problems of modernity and blames the west for all ecological problems. And significantly, while all the authors labour on about the glories of ancient India, they also take care to promote very modern BJP leaders.

For instance, the article by the Panchajanya editor mentions a trip to Leh under Sahib Singh Varma, who was then the BJP chief minister of Delhi. The other persons mentioned as part of the entourage were L.K. Advani, Gegong Apang and Farooq Abdullah -- the first named being an integral part of the BJP leadership and the latter two being newly won allies. In the exercise section of the chapter, there are some seemingly innocuous questions posed to students: "How did the Sindhu get separated from us?''; "Where does the rest of the river lie now?"; "Apart from the author, who were the other important persons and leaders who went on the Sindhu Darshan and what feelings did they express?''.