New Delhi: Congress on Wednesday continued to protest against the Rajasthan government over removal of references to India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru from class VIII textbooks in the state.
Opposing the move to omit references of Nehru from textbooks, Congress leader Sachin Pilot said that the action reflects the mental bankruptcy of the Vasundhara Raje government and asked the BJP government in the state to issue an apology over the matter.
On the other hand, Rajasthan government has rejected all allegations from the opposition and said that revised syllabus has Nehru's name mentioned in 15 places in textbooks.
It is said that after coming to power in 2013, Raje government formed a committee to make changes in school textbooks. The Congress party has accused the Rajasthan government of favouring politics in education system.
The new revised textbooks of class VIII doesn't mention names of Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini Naidu, Madan Mohan Malviya and other Congress other leaders. In the revised textbook, Nehru's references have been omitted from the chapter 'India After Independence'.
However, the textbooks contain the names of other leaders like Vir Savarkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Subhas Chandra Bose.
Rajasthan School Education Minister Vasudev Devnani said that Nehru's role in the freedom movement, introducing Panchayati Raj system, and the non-aligned movement have been given space in the revised textbooks.
"The state government does not favour politics in education. Syllabus from class 1 to 8 is prepared by the State Institute of Education Research and Training (SIERT) and the Board of Secondary Education prepares the syllabus for classes 9 to 12," Devnani said.
