Reference book terms Tilak as the ‘Father of terrorism’

JAIPUR: A reference book for Class VIII Social Science (SS) has termed Bal Gangadhar Tilak as a “Father of terrorism”.

The book is popularly used as a reference by the private English medium schools affiliated with Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) has courted controversy. The book published by a Mathura-based publisher is also in many schools in UP.

The controversial statement was on page number 267 under the topic 'Incidents of National Movements During Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century’ of chapter 22. It reads that “Tilak demonstrated a path towards national movement, therefore, he is called as the father of terrorism.”

Later, it reads that “Tilak clearly believed that we cannot achieve anything just by pleading the British officers. Through Shivaji and Ganpati festivals, Tilak aroused unique awareness in the country. He instilled the mantra of freedom among the masses, due to which he became a thorn in the eyes of the British,"

Rajasthan distributor of the publisher Student Advisory Publication Private Limited, Manish Yadav admitted that mistake was due to poor translation. “I am aware of the mistake. It exists only in the first edition of this book. The mistake was corrected in the next editions which are also available in the market,” said Manish Yadav. He expressed ignorance about the word replaced ‘terrorist’ word in the later editions. “I am out of Jaipur so not in a position to tell you the number of books in the first edition and the corrected word in later editions.”

Kishan Mittal, secretary of Swayamsewi Sansthan, a group of Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE), said that they are force to recommend such books to students. “Rajasthan Education department doesn’t not publish English books leaving us to choose those reference books which cover most part of the syllabus. These books are full of errors,” said Mittal. He said that a directive will be sent to schools to drop the book from the list of reference books.

Meanwhile, Congress president Sachin Pilot has termed the freedom fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak description as ‘Terrorist’ in class VIII reference book as a matter of national shame on Friday. He said, “BJP had attempted to downsize the role of country’s first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru but with our protest they have to reinstate the content axed by them from the textbooks.” He also said that government is promoting RSS leaders in textbooks who neither have any role in the development of country nor the freedom struggle.