Savarkar no longer ‘Veer’ in Rajasthan textbook

JAIPUR: RSS ideologue ‘Veer’ Savarkar is no longer ‘Veer’ in a specimen copy of a revised Class X social science textbook in Rajasthan. With the prefix axed, Savarkar is referred to as “conspirator who plotted the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi” and a point added that he apologised to the British administration thrice to get his prison term reduced and be granted mercy.
The state’s new textbook committee’s “revision” in Savarkar’s biography came to light after a specimen copy of the new text, that will be available from the next academic year, was leaked to the media. The chapter on Savarkar was added in 2017, as part of changes made to the syllabus to rewrite textbooks by the Vasundhara Raje BJP government. This March, the new Congress government set up a committee to review the syllabus in government schools. “While 80% of syllabus shall remain the same, 20% will undergo changes.
The former BJP government brought in ‘saffronisation’ and ‘politicisation’ of education,” education minister Govind Singh Dotasara had said at the time. On Monday, Dotasara said the revision was made on established facts and the department is open for discussion and debate after the model code of conduct is over. The chapter in the specimen copy calls the RSS ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar and says he is the first to acknowledge the mutiny of 1857 as the first struggle for Independence.
On Savarkar’s stay in Andaman prison, it says, “He was harassed in prison to a point that Savarkar wrote four letters apologising to the British… On May 2, 1921, he was granted mercy on condition he will stay away from politics.” It narrates that Savarkar campaigned to make India a “Hindu Rashtra” and gave the slogan “Hinduise politics, militarise Hindudom”.
The chapter also notes he was accused of conspiring and helping Nathuram Godse kill Mahatma Gandhi and concludes by stating that Savarkar was acquitted of the charges. The new text has enraged BJP. Former education minister Vasudev Devnani said, “The act by Congress government is anti-Hindu…. BJP will oppose the move.” Dotasara’s retort has been that the former BJP government downsised the contributions of Mahatma and Jawaharlal Nehru.
In the last eight years, Rajasthan’s textbooks for classes I to XII (around 300 crore units) have been changed thrice. KB Kothari, former policy planner UNICEF in New York called it an example of “misplaced priorities”.