Removal of Razia Sultan and Noor Jehan from NCERT Textbooks Amounts to Historical Silencing
Amina Hussain | 28 August 2025 | The Indian Express
The recent decision to remove Razia Sultan and Noor Jehan from the NCERT social science textbook of Class 8 under the guise of curriculum overload is not a simple “rationalising”. It is part of a larger project in which erasure itself becomes a form of pedagogy. To erase women, and especially Muslim women, from the national narrative is to instruct young students that such figures never truly belonged to India’s story of power and governance.
After all, Razia Sultan’s reign was not a fable or a passing episode that did not deserve a footnote. She ruled the Delhi Sultanate from 1236 to 1240, after her father Iltutmish recognised her ability and named her as his successor, even when his court considered such a choice unacceptable. Razia proudly called herself Sultan and not Sultana, a decision that was both symbolic and practical. Unveiled, she dressed in attire that was meant to rule, held court in public, and led armies in battle…