Supplementary textbooks released
Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 23: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday strongly criticised the NCERT for its recent omission of key portions from school textbooks and said that the move was with the political intention of creating a society rooted in hatred and animosity.
The attempt would change the social and historical perspective of the students and would put society in danger, which stands firm on the ideals of secularism and brotherhood, he said.
The Left veteran also said extra vigil should be paid against any such textbook reformations done in the name of rationalisation.
Vijayan was speaking after launching a set of supplementary textbooks, including the portions deleted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, for classes 11 and 12.
The Chief Minister said that by removing portions of the Mughal Empire from the textbooks, they were trying to create the impression that the country belongs to a particular group.
“They removed the Mughal history to create a sense that this country belonged to a particular section and to create a sense among children that all other sections needed to be driven away from this country. It is essential to negate social truths to build a religious state, and that is what is being attempted. We have to be very cautious against such moves,” he said.
To create a society rooted in hatred and animosity was the objective of such moves, he said, adding that the proponents of a nation based on religion had a feeling that the rest of the things would be easier for them. So, extra vigil should be taken against such textbook reformations, he said.
He pointed out that one of the deleted portions was with regard to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination. (PTI)