Rajasthan Drops Class 9-12 Supplementary History Books After Minister's Objections Over Mughal Content

The Rajasthan School Education Department has formally ordered the removal of four supplementary History textbooks for Classes 9 to 12, following sustained objections from State Education Minister Madan Dilawar regarding the portrayal of Mughal rulers and other historical narratives .

The decision, formalized through an order issued by Director Sitaram Jat, categorizes these titles as "deleted texts" for the 2026–27 academic session, effectively prohibiting their study and classroom instruction across the state .

The Removed Textbooks

The withdrawn supplementary materials include one book for each grade, focusing primarily on Rajasthan's cultural legacy and India's post-independence period.

These books were introduced during the 2020–21 academic session under the previous Congress government led by Ashok Gehlot. Officials argued at the time that the standard NCERT curriculum inadequately represented the state's history .

Education Minister Madan Dilawar has been a vocal critic of the existing curriculum, specifically targeting the portrayal of Mughal Emperor Akbar. In previous speeches, Dilawar stated that Akbar would no longer be taught as a "great" figure, accusing him of "plundering the country" and criticizing references to him as a "great personality" .

Hitting back at opposition criticism, Minister Dilawar defended the move on Friday as an act of "history correction" rather than distortion. He accused the Congress party of misleading the public and neglecting leaders like B.R. Ambedkar, Lal Bahadur Shastri, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in their narratives.

"We are not distorting history; we want to correct it," Dilawar told reporters. "Ambedkar was never a Jan Sangh leader, but among the greatest leaders of Congress, and yet he has been reduced to a one-line mention as a Dalit icon."