Controversy over book hotting up

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, OCT. 6.The controversy over the Class XI NCERT textbook - ``Medieval India'' - carrying allegedly derogatory remarks about Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadhur hotted up further today with a delegation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Tohra) meeting the Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit, demanding a ban on the book with immediate effect.

On the other hand, the Akali Dal (Badal) threatened to call a ``Delhi bandh'' if the book is not withdrawn immediately.

In another related development, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (DSGPC) has banned the book in schools run by it after the matter was brought to light recently. The Akali Dal (Badal) is an ally of the NDA Government at the Centre.

The delegation led by its Delhi unit president, Mr. Paramjit Singh Sarna, impressed upon the Chief Minister the urgency to issue immediate instructions that the history book written by Prof. Satish Chandra be withdrawn from all schools in the Capital.

They also submitted a memorandum to Ms. Dikshit, just before she left for the U.S. today, promising that she would be issuing the required directions to the Education Department.

The matter had also been raised by the Akali Dal (Badal) group which under its president, Mr. Avtar Singh Hit, met the Union Human Resource Development Minister, Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi, on October 4 demanding a ban on the book. The issue had been raised in the Delhi Assembly by the Gandhi Nagar MLA, Mr. Arvinder Singh Lovely, and subsequently a resolution was passed condemning ``distortion of history'' and attempts to promote only a certain ideology.

Many Sikh leaders are of the view that irrespective of when and who introduced this textbook in the NCERT syllabus, the fact is that it contained material which offended the sentiments of the Sikh community and as such the book should either be banned or withdrawn.

During their meeting with the Chief Minister, the Shiromani Akali Dal leader, Mr. Sarna said the book, presently being taught in the Class XI both in English and Hindi, distorted history about the Sikh gurus and contained derogatory remarks which were full of historical inaccuracies. It also undermined the supreme sacrifice made by the Sikh gurus.

They said the issue was not which party was responsible for this goof-up but the fact that it contains certain references about Sikh gurus which were far from the truth and hurt their sentiments.

Mr. Sarna pointed out that the eighth guru, Guru Harkrishan Sahib, had died at the tender age of nine, yet the book mentions in the Hindi translation that Guru Harkrishan's son was staying in the durbar of Aurangzeb. He said it was a well- known fact that in 1675 Guru Tegh Bahadhur had sacrificed his life in the defence of weak and helpless people. The Guru had championed the cause of religious freedom in the age of religious intolerance.

He wilfully sacrificed his life to protect the rights of the Kashmiri pandits and other Hindus. Yet the book mentions that Guru Tegh Bahadhur was executed because he either ``indulged in loot and plunder'' in Punjab or because of a ``conspiracy'' hatched by his family.

Lashing out at Prof. Chandra, the Shiromani Akali Dal leader said the author had worked with a biased mind and was strongly prejudiced against the Sikh religion.

The references to the Sikh gurus had been included or written by him with a mala fide intention to undermine the history of the Sikh religion. He warned that this would not be tolerated, and if action was not taken soon, things could well go out of hand.

He was also critical of the Akali Dal (Badal) for not putting pressure on the BJP-led Government, of which it was a partner, to ban the book with immediate effect.

``The Sikh masses and intellectuals are very sad and angry. They are feeling extremely hurt and this book has done irreparable damage to our religion.

Several young minds reading the books must have acquired distorted and wrong image of Sikh gurus and history which was full of dangerous implications of the community as well as the nation,'' he said.

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