NEW DELHI: In West Bengal, the Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist remain bonded but in Kerala, they are sparring over an ‘act of omission’ in textbooks in schools of Tripura, another left-ruled state.
Ramesh Chennithala, the leader of opposition in Kerala state legislative assembly, wrote to CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury that the “lessons about Mahatma Gandhi and the history of Independence movement were removed from the textbook of Tripura State Education Board”.
“This is a very dangerous trend that the CPI(M)-led government has set in motion in Tripura and it needs urgent correction. It is all the more unfortunate that (the) Tripura government’s action comes close on the heels of the lessons related to Jawaharlal Nehru (that) has been dropped arbitrarily in Rajasthan,” Chennithala told HT. In his letter to Yechury, the Congress leader said the Class 10 textbook in Tripura omits the part that describes Gandhi and his contributions to India’s freedom movement.
“Also, it has altogether removed the history of India’s freedom movement from the state’s Class 9 history textbooks. The only national icon that figures in the Class 9 textbook is Mahatma Gandhi, but not for his contributions to India’s freedom movement but for his views on cricket. The book features Russian and French revolutions. It also devotes pages to the birth of cricket in England and IPL, Nazism and the rise of Adolf Hitler,” he charged.
{{/usCountry}}“Also, it has altogether removed the history of India’s freedom movement from the state’s Class 9 history textbooks. The only national icon that figures in the Class 9 textbook is Mahatma Gandhi, but not for his contributions to India’s freedom movement but for his views on cricket. The book features Russian and French revolutions. It also devotes pages to the birth of cricket in England and IPL, Nazism and the rise of Adolf Hitler,” he charged.
{{/usCountry}}“In national level BJP is trying to saffronise text book and history. At the same time unfortunately Left front government in Tripura is also on the same path by removing the portions regarding national leaders like Gandhiji. On one hand the BJP is trying to saffronise the textbook, on the other hand your government is trying to erase the history of our national icons and trying to paint red,” he wrote.