Mumbai: The State Education Department will make necessary changes to its school textbooks to remove all references allegedly showing former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi in poor light, Education Minister Vinod Tawde said on Monday. “We will convey the sentiments of legislators regarding this issue to the textbook bureau,” he told the Assembly.
The issue was raised by Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt, who claimed the former PMs have been referred to in a ‘defamatory’ manner in Class IX textbooks brought out by the school board. He said a chapter in the History and Political Science textbook links them to the Bofors scandal. “These references are an attempt to show them in poor light and must be immediately removed,” Mr. Dutt said. The demand was supported by most members of the House.
The Youth Congress has been protesting against this across the State, while the Congress had earlier demanded Mr. Tawde’s resignation, alleging the BJP government is trying to change the country’s history and is trying to show the Gandhi family in poor light.
The Congress claimed the textbook hasn’t highlighted achievements by Rajiv Gandhi, including autonomy to Panchayati Raj institutions and the Information Technology revolution.
Instead, he said, the textboot talks of “failed foreign policy in Sri Lanka and scandals in purchase of defence equipment during his tenure”.
