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Jawaharlal Nehru missing from Rajasthan Social Science textbooks, irks Congress
The new Social Science textbook for Class VIII of Rajasthan has the potential to brew a storm for it has erased Nehru from the pages of history. The textbook is currently available on the website of the publisher. The fact that many congress freedom fighters are missing from the book has evoked a
The new Social Science textbook for Class VIII of Rajasthan though not yet available in bookstores has the potential to brew a storm for it has erased Nehru from the pages of history. It has completely forgotten to mention India’s first Prime Minister.
The information came to light when the publisher Rajasthan Rajya Pathyapustak Mandal uploaded the book on its website— http://www.rstbraj.in. The revised textbook features Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Veer Savarkar, Bhagat Singh, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and revolutionary Hemu Kalani but is silent on Nehru and other Congress freedom fighters. Also, missing is Nathuram Godse the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi.
Meant for consumption in schools of the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education, the textbook revision has been carried out as part of “curriculum re-structuring” by the State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT), Udaipur.
The fact that the first prime minister of India is missing is more glaring in the light of the previous edition of the textbook, where Nehru features prominently in a box in the chapter on National Movement. In the revised chapter on National Movement, there is no mention of Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Madan Mohan Malviya or other freedom fighters.
When questioned about the glaring omissions, School Education Minister Vasudev Devnani cleared the air, “The government and I have nothing to do with it. I am yet to see the new textbooks. The syllabus is created by an autonomous body and the government does not interfere in it at all.”
It is noteworthy that the troubling version of the textbook is out after Devnani recently said that the Rajasthan government was re-designing textbooks to ensure “no Kanhaiya Kumar was born in the state”.
He had also highlighted that he wanted the curriculum to play 3 crucial roles: firstly, teach the child about the ‘veer’ and ‘veerangana’ of Rajasthan; secondly, make the child proud of Indian culture; and lastly create an ideal citizen and a patriot.
The foreword by the SIERT Director in the new Social Science textbook thanks UNICEF for financial and technical assistance. Reacting to the omission of Nehru from the textbook, Rajasthan Congress president Sachin Pilot said: “This is taking saffronisation to the next level. The BJP’s ideological bankruptcy has stooped to such levels that it is erasing the country’s first Prime Minister from school history books. But they should know that this does not mean they can erase Nehru’s memory and his contribution from the nation’s collective conscience. We will oppose this attempt to alter the nation’s history.”