Bhubaneswar: Hitting back at BJD president Naveen Patnaik for his remarks on the Paika Bidroha, Odisha Ministers on Tuesday termed the former chief ministers claim as highly laughable and politically motivated.
Health Minister Mukesh Mahaling and School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond refuted Naveen’s claim that the Paika Bidroha was removed from NCERT textbooks.
The NCERT has already made it clear that the topic remains and will be included in a forthcoming (second) volume of the Social Studies (SST) textbook for Class VIII.
Reacting sharply to the Leader of Opposition’s post on his X handle alleging the removal of ‘1817 Paika Rebellion’ from the NCERT textbook, the Minister issued a strong rebuttal.
Maintaining that the Paika Rebellion has not been removed from the textbooks, he said NCERT has officially stated that this historical event will be featured in the second part of the social science textbook, which is slated for publication soon.
Accusing the LoP of spreading misinformation through his social media posts, the Minister claimed that the BJD chief was attempting to mislead the people of Odisha for political gain. He also described these efforts as highly laughable.
“Dear Shri @Naveen_Odisha, I would like to inform you that the Paika Rebellion has not been removed from the @ncert textbook. As clarified by NCERT yesterday, it will soon be included in the second part of the social science book. Your attempt to mislead the people of Odisha through such a false tweet, merely to fulfill your political ambitions, is extremely laughable,” Mahaling said in a post on X.
Nityananda Gond also took to X and said, “reports regarding omission of these important events of our early struggle for freedom from NCERT textbooks is preposterous and untrue. NCERT has only released the 1st volume of the Class VIII social science text book. The glorious saga of the Paikas and other regional rebellions are a part of the 2nd volume which is under final stages of development. The textbook will be available by Sept-Oct 2025.”
Stating that the Central government has been bringing the contributions of all freedom fighters to light, celebrating unsung heroes and rectifying past mistakes by giving due honour to several proud sagas of our history, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made concrete efforts to honour the valorous history of Odisha and give Paika the place of pride it deserves.
“It is only due to his vision that we have endeavoured on a wider study of history and many stories of our freedom struggle that could not come before the country are finding their way in our textbooks,” the Minister added.
Earlier, Naveen Patnaik had slammed NCERT over “omission” of the Paika Rebellion from NCERT textbook, calling it a “huge dishonour” to the state’s legacy of resistance against colonialism.
In a strongly worded social media post, Naveen wrote, “Deeply concerned to know that the National Council of Educational Research and Training (@ncert) has dropped #Odisha’s Paika Rebellion or Paika Bidroha from its textbooks. The Paika rebellion was a watershed moment in Odisha’s history as our brave Paikas fought with extraordinary courage against the oppressive British way back in 1817.”
