Rajasthan Removes ‘Veer’ From Savarkar; Adds Apology, Gandhi Assassination Angles

A textbook revision committee constituted in the school education department after the Congress came to power in Rajasthan has revised RSS ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s biography, reports The Hush Post.

The biography was introduced by the BJP. The committee has now removed the prefix ‘Veer’ from Savakar’s name in Class X social science textbooks. The books now just refer to him as Vinayak Damodar Savarkar who “plotted” Mahatma Gandhi’s “assassination”, carried out by Nathuram Godse on January 30, 1948.

The committee has also included that before Independence, Savarkar, who was arrested in 1910 for alleged revolutionary activities, had “apologised” to the British Raj to reduce his 50-year jail term and secure clemency. He was freed in 1921 on the condition that he renounce revolutionary activities.

“This is a usual process for revision committee to review textbooks,” Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said.

Another change has been to remove a picture of Jauhar, which encourages self-immolation. This removal of Jauhar and its equation with Sati, which is illegal, has annoyed Rajputs for whom Jauhar is different from Sati.

Padmini has been a well-known example of Jauhar against Alauddin Khilji. An attempt to “distort her image” in the movie Padmavat had met with strong protests from Rajputs.

“The BJP made it look like a communal battle ignoring the role of Pratap’s general Hakim Khan Suri too. Our text will inspire students from Pratap’s life story,” Gehlot said.

The Gehlot government was also likely to do away with a chapter on demonetisation.

The review committee is yet to decide on how much space Jawaharlal Nehru will get in Congress-written textbooks. The BJP government had reduced too much of the Nehru saga.