Nehru out of MP textbooks

BHOPAL: Barely a week after dropping nursery rhymes from school syllabus, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has removed a poem on Jawaharlal Nehru and his memoirs on Kamla Nehru from textbooks sparking a controversy with opposition parties accusing it of “saffronising education on RSS directives.”

Threatening to launch a state-wide stir, Congress workers burnt an effigy of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan protesting removal of the poem “Chacha Nehru Mujhe Bana Do” from Standard I syllabus and Nehru’s memoirs on his wife Kamla Nehru from standard VII course.

Several children wearing Nehru’s sherwani also took part in the demonstration amidst slogan shouting by Congress workers even as Left Parties condemned the changes in the school syllabus and accused BJP of “trying to end progressive values among children.”

However, state school education minister Narottam Mishra denied any political designs saying the changes were made on the recommendation of an expert committee.

Though Nehru’s poem and his memoirs were dropped, another of his writings ‘Vaseeyat’ and portions of letters written by him to Indira Gandhi ‘Pita ki chitthi beti ke naam’ were included in the syllabus. Rejecting Mishra’s claims as “mere excuses,” state Congress general secretary Manak Agrawal accused it of “saffronising education on the directions of the RSS” and sought governor Balram Jakhar’s intervention in preventing it.

The state government’s move came barely a week after it removed several poems from primary school syllabus including the famous nursery rhyme, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star..”, saying it was “an attempt to reduce Western influence on children.”

The state government had replaced the old nursery rhymes with “new ones to inculcate national sentiments among children. But how can it justify the move to drop Nehru’s writings?” state CPI-M secretary Bahadur Singh Dhakad said.
“While trying to implement its saffron agenda, the BJP is choking progressive values among children,” he alleged adding Left parties will launch an agitation against the move.

The CPI-M will hold a convention on June 24 to chalk out plans in this regard, he added.

BARELY a week after dropping nursery rhymes from school syllabus, the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has removed a poem on Jawaharlal Nehru and his memoirs on Kamla Nehru from textbooks, sparking a controversy with opposition parties accusing it of “saffronising education on RSS directives.”

Threatening to launch a state-wide stir, Congress workers burnt an effigy of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan protesting removal of the poem “Chacha Nehru Mujhe Bana Do” from Standard I syllabus and Nehru’s memoirs on his wife Kamla Nehru from standard VII course.

Several children wearing Nehru’s sherwani also took part in the demonstration amid slogan shouting by Congress workers even as Left Parties condemned the changes in the school syllabus and accused BJP of “trying to end progressive values among children.”

But state school education minister Narottam Mishra denied any political designs saying the changes were made on the recommendation of an expert committee.

Though Nehru’s poem and his memoirs were dropped, another of his writings ‘Vaseeyat’ and portions of letters written by him to Indira Gandhi ‘Pita ki chitthi beti ke naam’ were included in the syllabus.

Rejecting Mishra’s claims as “mere excuses,” state Congress general secretary Manak Agrawal accused it of “saffronising education on the directions of the RSS” and sought governor Balram Jakhar’s intervention in preventing it.

The state government’s move came barely a week after it removed several poems from primary school syllabus including the famous nursery rhyme, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star..”, saying it was “an attempt to reduce Western influence on children.”

The state government had replaced the old nursery rhymes with “new ones to inculcate national sentiments among children. But how can it justify the move to drop Nehru’s writings?” state CPI-M secretary Bahadur Singh Dhakad said.
“While trying to implement its saffron agenda, the BJP is choking progressive values among children,” he alleged adding Left parties will launch an agitation against the move.

The CPI-M will hold a convention on June 24 to chalk out plans in this regard, he added.