The Rajasthan government on Tuesday announced that a picture of ‘jauhar’ (a practice of mass self-immolation by women to escape enslavement) has been removed from Class 8 textbooks of the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education.
The English textbook has a picture of several burning pyres depicting mass self-immolation by women. The education minister said the revised books will be made available from next academic session.
Announcing the decision, state education minister Govind Singh Dotasara said, “The picture depicted on the book cover said that our sisters, mothers and daughter take birth to observe Jauhar. What are we trying to teach our daughters? Are we trying to teach what is prohibited as per law?”
However, former BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Rajsamand, Diya Kumari, opposed the move. “By changing the syllabus, Congress government has insulted Rani Sati, an epitome of ‘satitva’ and the golden history of our land...,” she tweeted.
Reacting to her comments, Dotasara tweeted, “We cannot teach our little girls to perform ‘jauhar’... Rajasthan had a golden history before you and me existed and will be after us too, the only difference is that the BJP government made education department a laboratory...”