Savarkar No More ‘Veer’ as Rajasthan Govt Alters School Textbooks

The changes were made after the textbook review committee made its recommendations on the matter.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

The Congress government in Rajasthan led by Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has made several changes – in relation to the historical events and personalities – to school textbooks followed by students of state board, reported The Indian Express. These changes also reflect the modifications made by the previous BJP government in the state.

The changes were made after the textbook review committee made a few recommendations. The committee was set up in February to study whether the earlier changes were made for political reasons.

Veer Savarkar? Not ‘Veer’ Anymore

In earlier readings, Savarkar was prefixed with 'Veer' in a chapter about freedom fighters.

However, the latest edition of the book addresses him as 'Vinayak Damodar Savarkar', while describing how he was tortured by the British in jail and eventually called himself a "son of Portugal" in his mercy plea in 1911.

The chapter also says that Savarkar was not supportive of the Quit India movement in 1942 and the formation of Pakistan in 1947.

The Haldighati Battle

In the old class 10 book, the series of events during the battle of Haldighati were changed, saying that Mughal Emperor Akbar faced defeat at the hands of Maharana Pratap.

As per the recommendations, the new book says that the battle ends with Maharana Pratap having to leave the battlefield and the death of his horse, Chetak. The book also explains that the battle was not a religious one, but a fight for superiority.

Demonetisation Disappears

In old editions of class 12 Political Science books, demonetisation was described as 'kale dhan ki safai abhiyan (an initiative to wipe out black money)' under the chapter ‘Terrorism, Criminalisation of Policies & Corruption and Characterstics of India Foreign Policy & Non-alignment’.

In the latest edition, all the references to note ban have been removed.

Jihad Reference Omitted

In the old book of class 12 Political Science, it is said that India-Pakistan relations are affected by anti-India policy or 'jihad', under the chapter 'India's relation with its neighbours (Pakistan, China and Nepal)'.

The word jihad has now been deleted from the new book.

Khilji's Attack on Chittor

The class 12 History book, in its chapter titled 'Muslim attack- Objective and Impact', says Alauddin Khilji attacked Chittor because he wanted to possess Padmini, the wife of Ratan Singh, Mewar of Chittor, as per some historians.

The new book says though this was the reason, citing Padmaavat, it also said that some historians do not believe it.

The book also lays down the argument that there is no evidence of many incidents described in Padmaavat.

Rajasthan Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara, told The Indian Express, "We formed a committee of educationists and found mistakes in several such textbooks including cases where history was distorted and presented. We don’t have any political agenda in it. We made the changes according to the report of the committee. But during the previous BJP regime, they deliberately changed the NCERT syllabus to impose the ideology of the RSS and changed the textbooks which also amounted to the loss of hundreds of crores of rupees."

(With inputs from The Indian Express)