A special module released by the NCERT to mark "Partition Horrors Remembrance Day" has held Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the Congress and then Viceroy Lord Mountbatten responsible for India's Partition, sparking an angry outburst from the Congress that accused the jugalbandi – collaboration – of the Hindu Mahasabha and the Muslim League for the division of India when the British left.
The module says that post-Partition, Kashmir emerged as a new problem that had never existed in India before and created a challenge for the country's foreign policy. It also says that some countries keep giving aid to Pakistan and exert pressure on India in the name of the Kashmir issue.
"India's Partition happened due to wrong ideas. The party of Indian Muslims, the Muslim League, held a conference in Lahore in 1940. Its leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, said that Hindus and Muslims belong to two different religious philosophies, social customs, and literatures," the module said.
In a section titled "culprits of Partition", the NCERT module said, "Ultimately, on August 15, 1947, India was divided. But this was not the doing of any one person. There were three elements responsible for the Partition of India: Jinnah, who demanded it; second, the Congress, which accepted it; and third, Mountbatten, who implemented it. But Mountbatten proved to be guilty of a major blunder.
"He preponed the date for the transfer of power from June 1948 to August 1947. He persuaded everyone to agree to this. Because of this, complete preparations could not be made before the Partition. The demarcation of the Partition boundaries was also done hastily. For that, Sir Cyril Radcliffe was given only five weeks,” a PTI report on the module said.
Preponed is not an English word per se, and is used only in Indian English.
“In Punjab, even two days after 15 August 1947, millions of people did not know whether they were in India or in Pakistan. Such haste was a great act of carelessness," it said.
"Later, even Jinnah admitted that he had not expected Partition to happen. He told his aide, 'I never thought it would happen. I never expected to see Pakistan in my lifetime'," it said.
The module quotes Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel as saying that the situation in India had become explosive. "India had become a battlefield, and it was better to partition the country than to have a civil war."
It cites Mahatma Gandhi's stance, noting that he opposed Partition but would not resist the Congress's decision through violence. The text states: “He said that he could not be a party to the Partition, but he would not stop Congress from accepting it with violence."
NCERT has published two separate modules -- one for Classes 6 to 8 (middle stage) and another for Classes 9 to 12 (secondary stage). These are supplementary resources in English and Hindi, not part of regular textbooks, and are meant to be used through projects, posters, discussions and debates.
Both modules open with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 2021 message announcing the observance of Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.
Quoting the prime minister's post on X (formerly Twitter), the book mentions, "Partition's pains can never be forgotten. Millions of our sisters and brothers were displaced, and many lost their lives due to mindless hate and violence. In memory of the struggles and sacrifices of our people, 14th August will be observed as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day."
The module for middle-stage classes asserts that Partition "was not inevitable" and resulted from "wrong ideas." Patel had called it "bitter medicine," while Nehru described it as "bad" but "unavoidable".
The secondary-stage module traces Partition to Muslim leaders' belief in a separate identity rooted in "political Islam," which, it claims, "rejects any permanent equality with non-Muslims." It states that this ideology drove the Pakistan movement, with Jinnah as its "able lawyer-leader."
At a news meet on Saturday, Congress leader Pawan Khera asked: “Is 1938 mentioned or not [in the NCERT module].
“In the history of Partition, 1938 is a very significant date,” Khera said. “Why? In Gujarat, on the banks of the Sabarmati, the national conference of the Hindu Mahasabha was held. There it was clearly declared that Hindus and Muslims cannot live in one country.
“Let us move forward to 1940. Is it there in the module,” he asked. On again getting an answer in the negative, he said: “In 1940, taking the jugalbandi forward, in the Muslim League’s Lahore session, Jinnah had mentioned the same. It was floated in 1938 by the Hindu Mahasabha, Jinnah repeated it in 1940. Now let us come to 1942. I can assure you this date will also not be mentioned [in the module]. Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League alliance came to power. When the Quit India call was given, Congress leaders had resigned from all Provincial Assemblies to hit the streets against the British.
“At that time,” he said, “Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League made alliance regimes in provinces including NWFP, Bengal, Sindh. In the Sindh Assembly, the Partition proposal was tabled by Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League. Is it written in the NCERT module?
“Set fire to the book if all this is not mentioned in it,” he added. “This is the reality. Partition happened due to the jugalbandi of Hindu Mahasabha and Muslim League. If there is a villain in this history, then it is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Generations will not forgive them.”
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi, in an interview with ANI, said it was wrong to blame Muslims for Partition.
"Include the book 'Muslims Against Partition' by Shamsul Islam in the NCERT,” he said. “This lie is told again and again about Partition. At that time, not even 2-3 per cent Muslims had the right to vote, and today people blame us for the Partition. How were we responsible for that? Those who fled from here, they fled. Those who were loyal, they stayed."