Modi government chapters may go off books

Glorification of the Modi government will fade off in the revised school textbooks of the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE). New textbooks which are expected to be introduced within the next 15 days will evade the portions where the policies under the Modi government were glorified, hinted education minister Govind Singh Dotasra on Tuesday.

Dotasra said the school children will not be taught anything for political benefits. “Policies are made and changed daily. Demonetisation was the most unsuccessful of all and the people even died standing in the queues. Will we ever teach such things to our children? The things which are good and motivational for all-round development of a student will only be included. Unlike BJP, we will not teach anything for our political benefits,” said Dotasra.

Presently the school books of Class 12 mentions a topic titled ‘Impact of Demonetisation on corruption’ where demonetisation is introduced as a historical decision which was a ‘campaign for removal of black money’. The topic mentions “the prime motive for the decision was to find out the black money, stop corruption, rendering the fake currency useless which fuelled terrorism and ceasing the usage of black money in elections.” The topic mentions that the demonetisation will counter terrorists since they prosper due to black money. However, the topic does not mention the hardships faced due to cash crunch and the people who died in the queues.

Another change in the history textbook of Class 10 has been stated where new textbooks mention that VD Savarkar wrote four mercy petitions to the British government and called himself ‘Son of Portugal’ in one of those.

The changes have also been made in the history textbooks of Class 12. The present textbooks published under the BJP government declared Maharana Pratap as a winner of the Battle of Haldighati. In the new textbooks ,however, the conclusion of the battle is not mentioned.

“The battle was not religious in nature. It was rather a struggle of might between two political powers. It is to be noted that the commander-in-chief of Maharana Pratap was Hakim Khan Suri whereas Raja Maan Singh led the Mughal forces,” mentions the new textbooks.

Textbooks published under the BJP government also mention Modi government’s foreign policy including the surgical strikes. A chapter on India’s relations with its neighbours mentioned PM’S surprise visit to Pakistan on Nawaz Sharif’s birthday, Pathankot attack, Uri Attack and retaliation of India in the form of ‘Surgical strikes.’

The present books also state that Congress leaders were elite and did not have any connect with the masses. “Only leaders from prosperous, intellectual and middle-class backgrounds who couldn’t connect with the masses, were the leaders of Congress in its first phase. Liberals wanted to strengthen British Raj in India and focused on its publicity, as they considered it emblematic of peace and order, and feared disorder in its absence,” mentions Class 10 social science book in the chapter on India’s freedom struggle.