Fact Check: Claim That India Had Only Muslim Education Ministers From 1947 To 1977 Is FALSE 

New Delhi (Vishvas News). A viral social media post lists five people – Maulana Azad, Humayun Kabir, Mohammad Karim Chhagla, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, and Nurul Hasan – claiming that they were the only Union Education Ministers in India between 1947 and 1977 during Congress rule. The post further implies that this dominance of Muslim education ministers is the reason why rulers like Babur, Aurangzeb, and Khilji were projected as heroes in history textbooks.

Vishvas News investigated the viral claim and found it to be misleading. In reality, India had nine Union Education Ministers from 1947 to 1977. Four of them were non-Muslim.

What is viral?

Facebook user ‘Yogesh Patel’ shared the viral picture (archive link) on 20 April 2025. The image shows images and names of five people– Maulana Azad, Humayun Kabir, Mohammad Karim Chhagla, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, and Nurul Hasan – and claims that they were the Union Education Ministers of India from 1947 to 1977 during Congress rule. The post then implies that this supposed dominance of Muslim education ministers explains the positive portrayal of rulers like Babur, Aurangzeb, and Khilji in history textbooks. 

Investigation

To fact-check the viral claim, we first searched the list of education ministers of India using keywords.

We found a list of Education Ministers of India on the website of the Ministry of Education, Government of India. According to the list, the names of the people who were Education Ministers of India from 1947 to 1977 are as follows:

1)Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (1947-1958)

2)K. L. Shrimali (1958-1963)

3)Humayun Kabir (1963)

4)M. C. Chagla (1963-1966)

5)Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed (1966-1967)

6)Triguna Sen (1967-1969)

7)V. K. R. V. Rao (1969-1971)

8)Siddhartha Shankar Ray (1971-1973)

9)Nurul Hasan (1973-1977)

The viral post mentions the names of only five Muslim education ministers, while according to the information available on the official website of the Ministry of Education, there have also been non-Muslim education ministers during this period. Between 1947 and 1977, there were nine education ministers in India, including Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Humayun Kabir, M. C. Chhagla, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, and Nurul Hasan, who were Muslims. At the same time, K. L. Shrimali, Triguna Sen, V. K. R. V. Rao and Siddharth Shankar Ray were non-Muslims.

We also found a list of those who held the position since independence on several education websites like ‘Career Power‘ and ‘PW Only IAS‘. According to the information available here, India saw nine education ministers during 1947 and 1977. Five of them – Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Humayun Kabir, M.C. Chhagla, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed and Nurul Hasan – were Muslims, while the remaining four – K. L. Shrimali, Triguna Sen, V. K. R. V. Rao, and Siddhartha Shankar Ray – were non-Muslims.

For confirmation, we contacted Dainik Jagran’s National Political Editor and Bureau Chief Ashutosh Jha. He confirmed that the viral claim is misleading. 

User Yogesh Patel, who shared the viral post with the misleading claim, has around 4000 followers on Facebook.

Conclusion: Vishvas News’ investigation revealed that the viral claim is misleading. Between 1947 and 1977, India had nine education ministers, including five Muslim ministers and four non-Muslim ministers.

Tags

• Education Ministers
• Education Ministry
• Mughal emperor