View source for Social:Saffronisation

{{short description|Policies to impose Hindu nationalist view of history}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2015}}

'''''Saffronisation''''' or '''''saffronization''''' is the right-wing policy approach in {{wipe|India}} that seeks to implement a Hindu nationalist agenda, for example onto school textbooks.<ref>{{cite news |title=Editorial: Unfit to rule |newspaper=Frontline |volume=15 |number=25 |date=5 December 1998 |url=http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl1525/15250090.htm |accessdate=8 November 2014}}</ref> Critics have used this political neologism<ref name="Raghavan">{{Cite news|author=Raghavan, B. S.|title=Saffronisation|date=12 September 2001|newspaper=The Hindu|url=http://www.hindu.com/businessline/2001/09/12/stories/041255of.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070514123440/http://www.hindu.com/businessline/2001/09/12/stories/041255of.htm|archivedate=14 May 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> to refer to the policies of [[Religion:Hindutva|Hindu nationalist]] governments in India that attempted to glorify Hindu contributions to Indian history while undermining other contributions.

==Etymology==
The word comes from the association of saffron colour with [[Religion:Hindutva|Hindutva]].

==Textbook saffronisation in early 21st century==
The [[Social:Bharatiya Janata Party|Bharatiya Janata Party]] (BJP) has said that several Indian history textbooks had overt Marxist or Eurocentric political overtones.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Bhattacharya|first=Neeladri|date=2009|title=Teaching History in Schools: The Politics of Textbooks in India|journal=History Workshop Journal|volume=67|issue=67|pages=99–110|doi=10.1093/hwj/dbn050|jstor=40646212|s2cid=154421051}}</ref> The BJP has had trouble changing the textbooks, because many states in which the BJP is not in power have blocked saffronisation efforts. The BJP, citing a rigid anti-Hindu agenda, restructured NCERT and the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR) to make textbooks conform to the BJP's Hindu nationalist platform.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bénéï|first=Veronique|title=Manufacturing Citizenship: education and nationalism in Europe, South Asia, and China|publisher=Routledge|year=2005|isbn=0-415-36488-4|location=New York, NY|pages=156–159}}</ref> In states where the BJP had control of local government, textbooks were changed extensively to favor a Hindu nationalist narrative.<ref name=":0" /> These changes included the omission of caste-based exclusion and violence throughout Indian history, and the exclusion or minimization of contributions to Indian society made by Muslims.<ref name="Raghavan" /> 

Efforts were undertaken in 2004 to reverse the saffronisation of textbooks previously made by BJP, spearheaded by the [[Social:Indian National Congress|Indian National Congress]],<ref name="The Guardian">{{cite news|last=Ramesh |first=Randeep | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/jun/26/india.schoolsworldwide |title=Another rewrite for India's history books |work=The Guardian |date=25 June 2004 |access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref> India's second biggest political party and the BJP's main rival.

When the ''Hindustan Times'' reviewed the issue of saffronisation of Indian textbooks in late 2014, it noted that right-wing efforts to change how textbooks recount history faced "some difficulty as it lacks credible historians to back its claims."<ref>{{cite news|last=Raza |first=Danish | url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/saffronising-textbooks-where-myth-and-dogma-replace-history/story-CauM4dmmsPGrjZ3APAvNxO.html |title=Saffronising textbooks : Where myth and dogma replace history |work=Hindustan Times |date=8 December 2014 |access-date=9 March 2016}}</ref>  The medieval period in India is one such hotly-contested epoch among historians. Since there can be no true consensus about that era due to divided and deeply entrenched political motivations, history for that period is highly subjective and particularly vulnerable to the influence of the textbook writer's sympathies and outlook. "The choice of the textbook writer is more decisive than anything else," it was noted in a report in ''The Hindu''.<ref name="Amrik Singh">{{cite news|last=Singh|first=Amrik|date=25 August 2001|title=Saffronisation and textbooks|url=http://www.thehindu.com/2001/08/25/stories/05252524.htm|work=The Hindu|access-date=10 March 2016}}{{dead link|date=April 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> Critics have said that the changes to the textbooks have portrayed the medieval period as "a dark age of Islamic colonial rule which snuffed out the glories of the Hindu and Buddhist empires that preceded it".<ref name="The Guardian" /> Another trap in the politicisation of history relates to contention over the state of Jammu and Kashmir.<ref name="Amrik Singh" />

By mid-2015, ''The Times of India'' reported that the National Council of Educational Research and Training, which is in charge of publishing textbooks, had participated in a meeting convened by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, and during that meeting, the issue of changing textbooks was discussed. An official from the ICHR complained that the theme of nationalism did not receive proper treatment in textbooks, setting the stage for possible textbook revisions.<ref name=":0">{{cite news | last=Akshaya |first=Mukul | url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Saffronization-fears-over-history-textbooks-rewrite-plans/articleshow/47792475.cms |title=Saffronization fears over history textbooks rewrite plans |work=The Times of India|date=24 June 2015 |access-date=9 March 2016}}</ref>

The state government of Rajasthan reportedly spent Rs 37 crore to reprint 36 textbooks used for classes 1 to 8 for the 2016–2017 academic session that will be based on an agenda that would promote Indian culture by including historical figures, such as Maharaja Surajmal, Hem Chandra, and [[Biography:Guru Gobind Singh|Guru Gobind Singh]].  The textbooks that had been approved up to the 2012–13 academic session were rendered obsolete under the rewriting of history, and those books were auctioned off. In total, 5,66 crore new textbooks were ordered printed for an agenda that critics described was intent on supporting the saffronisation of textbooks. Rajasthan (primary and secondary) education minister Vasudev Devnani denied the charge of saffronisation, but educationists described his decision as the "Hinduisation of education" that occurs when right-wing forces come to power.<ref>{{cite news|last=Goswami |first=Rakesh | url=http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/saffron-agenda-raje-scraps-cong-textbooks-spends-rs-37-cr-on-new-ones/story-U3JaMmx52f4YsuUfb3wlNK.html |title=Saffronisation ? Raje scraps Cong textbooks, spends Rs 37 cr on new ones |work=Hindustan Times |date=20 January 2016 |access-date=9 March 2016}}</ref>

The state government of Karnataka has reportedly ordered new textbooks for the 2017–18 academic session in an effort that academicians and critics have described as a "blatant attempt to saffronise textbooks".<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/revised-textbooks-from-201718-academic-year/article7300069.ece |title=Revised textbooks from 2017–18 academic year|work=The Hindu |date=10 June 2015 |access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref>

Saffronisation has also been attempted to portray [[Biography:Mahatma Gandhi|Mahatma Gandhi]]'s Hindu-nationalist assassin Nathuram Godse in a heroic manner,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/lok-sabha-elections/lok-sabha-elections-2019-nathuram-godse-a-patriot-says-bjp-s-pragya-thakur/story-uq5EU9OWje7r5tmORd7UsK.html|title='Nathuram Godse was a patriot,' says BJP's Pragya Thakur; sparks outrage|date=2019-05-16|website=www.hindustantimes.com|language=en|access-date=2019-05-16}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/04/world/asia/india-gandhi-nathuram-godse.html|title=Gandhi's Killer Evokes Admiration as Never Before|last=Yasir|first=Sameer|date=2020-02-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-02-05|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> as well as other [[Religion:Hindutva|Hindutva]] leaders like Vinayak Damodar Savarkar,<ref>{{cite news |agency=Press Trust of India |title=Port Blair airport gets Rs 450 cr quake-proof makeover |newspaper=Business Standard India |date=9 June 2009 |url=http://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/port-blair-airport-gets-rs-450-cr-quake-proof-makeover-109060400190_1.html/ |access-date=20 February 2010 |archive-date=14 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211014020952/https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/port-blair-airport-gets-rs-450-cr-quake-proof-makeover-109060400190_1.html/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://zeenews.india.com/home/president-unveils-savarkar-portrait-in-central-hall-of-parliament_82859.html|title=President unveils Savarkar portrait in Central Hall of Parliament|date=26 February 2003|website=Zee News|access-date=21 August 2020|archive-date=24 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201024184248/https://zeenews.india.com/home/president-unveils-savarkar-portrait-in-central-hall-of-parliament_82859.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and M. S. Golwalkar.

==See also==

* Communalism (South Asia)
* [[Social:Saffron terror|Saffron terror]]
* Indian Knowledge Systems

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{Cite book|author=Bénéï, Véronique|year= 2005|title=Manufacturing Citizenship: education and nationalism in Europe, South Asia and China |publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-36488-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XCUNB8koN-8C|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=XCUNB8koN-8C&dq=Saffronization&pg=PA156 156–159]}}
*{{Cite web|author=Ninan, Ann|title=India: Righting or rewriting Hindu history |publisher=[[Company:Inter Press Service|Inter Press Service]]|date=February 2000|url=http://www.sacw.net/India_History/ann022000.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060516130251/http://www.sacw.net/India_History/ann022000.html|archive-date=16 May 2006|url-status=live}}
*{{Cite web|title=The Politics of Education in India|author=Upadhyay, Ray|publisher=South Asia Analysis Group|date=21 August 2001|url=http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper299.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217091426/http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper299.html|archive-date=17 December 2005|url-status=dead}}
*{{Cite journal|author1=Bhatt, Chetan  |author2=Mukta, Parita |name-list-style=amp |year=2000|title=Hindutva in the West: mapping the antinomies of diaspora nationalism|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume=23|number=3|pages=407–441|doi=10.1080/014198700328935|s2cid=143287533 }}
*{{Cite journal |author=Biswas, Titas |year=2020|title=Pedagogical Curricula and Educational Media: The Malignancy of Saffronised Otherisation in India |journal=Zoon Politikon |issue=11/2020 |pages=146–199|doi=<!-- 10.4467/2543408XZOP.20.006.13008 --> |url=https://www.ejournals.eu/Zoon-Politikon/2020/11-2020/art/16307/}}
{{Cultural assimilation}}{{Hindu Nationalism}}
[[Category:Political neologisms]]

{{Sourceattribution|Saffronisation}}