Thiruvananthapuram: Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the BJP slammed the Communist Party-led LDF government’s alleged attempts to disseminate distorted history to the students of Kerala through the SCERT textbooks and teachers handbook. The 4th standard Environmental studies teachers handbook and textbooks had reportedly included the claim that Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose fled to Germany due to fear of the British regime.
Furthermore, the textbook deliberately omitted the names of Assam and Jharkhand from a map in the second chapter. The student organization alleged that the omission is part of a hidden political agenda to destroy the nation’s integrity and secretly support the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to invade Assam. It also alleged that the outrage towards tribal inhabited Jharkhand also blatant and hence cannot be accepted.
ABVP National Secretary Shravan B Raj stated, “Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad strongly denounces the Communist Party-led Kerala government’s attempt to distort history and facts by publishing fake propaganda in textbooks and teachers handbook to manipulate the young generation. They attempted to tarnish the image of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, a valiant freedom fighter, by claiming he fled India due to fear of the British, which is a blatant lie. The errors in the map of India are not accidental but part of a conspiracy to destroy the nation’s integrity. This act of omission can be considered as a campaign of breaking India by the anti national forces. By omitting Assam, the CPM has clearly extended its support to the Chinese Communist Party’s attempt to invade Assam, showing loyalty to their ideological progenitors through this vicious means to misguide innocent students, who are the future of Bharat. The move of communists to politicise the academic materials will be condemned at any cost.”
ABVP Kerala State Secretary EU Eswaraprasad stated
“It’s truly shocking that the Educational department of Kerala, which claims itself as a model for all other states, committed such a heinous act. We firmly believe this is a massive ploy by the ruling dispensation to spread poisonous narratives, harboured from the minds of anti-nationals. We have already submitted an official complaint to the Minister of Education and to the Director of NCERT, demanding strict action against officials involved in this egregious offence.”
What is the controversy all about?
Chapter 2, titled India Ente Rajyam (India My Nation), of the textbook, is littered with errors. An activity suggests that Sarojini Naidu was the first woman president of the Indian National Congress (INC). In reality, it was Annie Besant. Sarojini was in fact the first Indian woman to preside over an INC session.
Similarly, the book says that Subhash Chandra Bose formed the Indian National Army, though historical records show it was first launched in 1942 by Captain Mohan Singh with support from Rash Behari Bose’s Indian Independence League.
The errors extend to maps as well. In one activity, a map of India fails to mention Assam and Jharkhand, yet students are asked to name the states by observing it.
The teachers handbook compounds the blunders. The early draft erroneously claimed that Subhash Chandra Bose “fled to Germany fearing the British.” Following criticism, the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) edited the handbook and uploaded a revised version, but the printed textbooks distributed to students remain unchanged.