Of course many history books in the West gloss over contradictions in the Bible, and skip some dark chapters such as slavery. This is a failing of all societies - do Communist historians mention the millions killed by Stalin? Do Pakistani historians mention the barbarism of Mohammed Ghori? What the writer gets worked up about is that a similar whitewashing has not been done about India's history in the text-books of a society into which many of our compatriots have moved for economic reasons.
Our newspapers show that, despite all the efforts of the Indian State, the evils of caste discrimination and dowry murders are undeniably present to an unacceptable degree even today. The low status of women is proved by the Census findings about the male-female sex ratio. So why should it be surprising for foreign historians to reach unflattering conclusions about Indias past?
If the children of our well-to-do compatriots settled in the US get taunted by their American peers, it is a reflection of the state of affairs in their country of origin. The negative portrayal of India overseas will disappear if we put our own house in order.
