Rajasthan Govt to ‘Correct’ BJP’s Version of Savarkar in Textbooks

Rajasthan Minister G Dotasara said that the Congress has changed the syllabus to teach history in the “right way.”

Rajasthan Education Minister Govind Dotasara said that people like Savarkar have been glorified in the textbooks to suit the “political gains” of the RSS.

(Photo: The Quint)

The Congress government in Rajasthan on Monday, 13 May, announced that changes will be made in the biography of RSS icon Veer Savarkar to teach the “correct” history, reported ANI.

Rajasthan Education Minister Govind Dotasara said that people like Savarkar have been glorified in the textbooks to suit the “political gains” of the RSS.

“The then BJP government made the education department a laboratory and it had made changes in the curriculum for the political interests of the RSS. The then government had developed a biography of Veer Savarkar. The facts of this topic were subjected to revision by a review committee by our government. The report elucidated that Savarkar had been presented in greater light for political interests.”

Govind Dotasara, Rajasthan Education Minister

The 2017 textbook of the Rajasthan state board stated Savarkar to be the “only brave revolutionary to be sentenced to two life terms of imprisonment and put in tireless efforts to stop partition.”

In the new curriculum, Savarkar is portrayed as “someone who was not a hero, was troubled by the torture in the jail, and who said sorry to the British government,” reported News18.

Speaking to the news agency, Dotasara said that the Congress has changed the syllabus to teach it in a “right way.”

"Congress believes that the children should be taught history in an honest and right way. This is the reason why the education department is taking up the matter seriously and is firm on changing the syllabus in the right way," said Dotasara.

(With inputs from ANI, News18)