THE Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) political committee has strongly condemned plans by Narendra Modi’s government to rewrite the country’s history textbooks.

Mr Modi wanted to write the Mughal empire out of the textbooks because its rulers were Muslims, the party said today.

The prime minister also intends to revise the textbooks to “whitewash the divisive and violent role of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS] organisation” in the assassination of independence leader Mahatma Gandhi, the CPI-M warned, with Gandhi’s killing by Nathuram Godse, a member of the Hindhu chauvinist RSS slated for removal from the syllabus published by the supposedly autonomous National Council of Educational Research and Training.

The RSS has close links to Mr Modi.

The communists called on “the government to immediately take the necessary steps to reverse these obnoxious steps and restore the old textbooks.

“We also urge all Indian patriots interested in defending the objective study of our past to raise their voice of protest.”

In another show of opposition to Mr Modi’s authoritarian rule, more than 100 Indian opposition MPs, including Congress party members, staged a protest march today after the end of a parliamentary budget session that had been marred by shouting, disruptions of the proceedings and a confrontation with the government.

The demonstrators warned that India’s democracy was in danger and accused Mr Modi’s administration of misusing government-run investigation agencies to intimidate opposition leaders.

The marchers were blocked by police after walking a short distance from the parliament building and forced to disperse.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said: “The parliamentary budget session was a washout, with the government getting the budget for 2023-24 approved within 12 minutes without a proper debate.”

Law Minister Kiran Rijiju blamed the opposition for disrupting the proceedings.