British publishers have condemned the Indian government’s initial decision to remove the famous ‘Dancing Girl’ figurine from school textbooks, calling it a “act of cultural vandalism” that threatens the integrity of historical education. The 4,500-year-old bronze statue, a symbol of the Indus Valley Civilisation, was cut from a Class 12 history book by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) earlier this year. But a wave of public outcry — led by historians, educators, and opposition politicians — forced a reversal, with the NCERT announcing last week that the image would be reinstated in the 2024 edition. The episode has shone a light on a broader pattern of curriculum changes under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, which critics say seeks to rewrite history to align with a Hindu nationalist agenda.
The Publishers Association, which represents UK-based academic and trade publishers including Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, issued a rare statement expressing “profound concern” over the censorship. “The removal of the Dancing Girl from textbooks was a disturbing precedent. History must not be edited to serve political ends,” said a spokesperson. “We welcome the restoration, but the attempt sets a dangerous example for other nations.”
The Dancing Girl, discovered at Mohenjo-daro in 1926, is one of the most cherished artefacts of the Indus Valley — a civilisation that flourished around 2600–1900 BCE in what is now Pakistan and northwest India. Her removal was part of a larger NCERT review that also cut sections on the Harappan civilisation and the decline of the Mughal empire, among others. The changes were justified by the NCERT as part of a syllabus “rationalisation” to reduce student workload after the pandemic. But historians argue that the deletions disproportionately affect content on India’s Islamic and pre-Vedic heritage.
“The Dancing Girl is not just a statue; she is a statement about the sophistication of India’s earliest urban culture,” said Dr. Rana Safvi, a Delhi-based historian. “To erase her from textbooks is to tell students that this part of our past is unwelcome.”
Pressure mounted after a petition to the Delhi High Court and a social media campaign under the hashtag #SaveTheDancingGirl. Opposition parties seized on the issue, accusing the Modi government of “saffronising” education. The Congress party’s Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: “They can remove her from a textbook, but they cannot remove 4,500 years of history.”
In response, the NCERT issued a terse statement confirming the restoration, noting that the decision was taken after “due consideration of public feedback.” However, Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan defended the curriculum review as a “scientific exercise” and accused critics of “politicising” the process.
For British publishers, the row is part of a wider concern over academic freedom in India, a key market for English-language textbooks. The country is the third largest book market in the world by volume, and UK publishers earn significant revenues from school and university texts. But the Narendra Modi government has increasingly demanded that textbooks reflect “Indian ethos” and has scrutinised content on sexuality, evolution, and caste. Last year, the University Grants Commission ordered universities to drop a chapter on nationalism from a political science textbook, calling it “anti-national.”
The Publishers Association is now calling for a “guarantee of editorial independence” in India’s curriculum framework. “Academic publishing relies on trust. If content can be altered without due process, that trust is broken,” the association’s statement said.
The Dancing Girl’s reprieve may mark a small victory for secular historians, but the broader battle over India’s past is far from over. As she returns to the pages of history, the question remains: whose history will be taught?
