RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha made a compelling case for contextual historical analysis amid controversy over Class 8 NCERT textbook updates, which introduce judicial corruption notes and revise Partition details.
In conversation with IANS, Jha stressed Gandhi and contemporaries’ staunch anti-Partition stance, overridden by the era’s ferocious violence. ‘Bloodshed dictated choices,’ he said. ‘Criticizing without context is misguided—Congress bore the independence mantle.’
The revised textbook reflects this: Gandhi and Congress balked but conceded Partition as inevitable.
Jha raised alarms over Youth Congress President Uday Bhanu Chib’s arrest post-AI Impact Summit demonstration, branded a mastermind. ‘Protests are democratic,’ he noted, referencing untraced culprits in Red Fort, Pahalgam, Pulwama attacks. ‘Inconsistency breeds suspicion—reconsider, government.’
Addressing Bihar’s curbs on open non-veg sales by schools and holy sites, Jha saw echoes of Giriraj Singh in Vijay Sinha’s policy. ‘Our nation’s diversity—social, cultural—resists uniformity,’ he illustrated with his village’s sacrificial traditions beside a school-temple. ‘Headline-chasing divides; innovative politics unites.’
Jha’s insights highlight the perils of decontextualized narratives and rigid ideologies.