State Board Faces Heat As Class 12 Textbook Links Islam With Terrorism

Jaipur: An FIR was lodged on Wednesday night against Rajasthan State Textbook Board and private publishing house Sanjiv Prakashan after a Class 12 textbook was found to have linked Islam with terrorism.

A complaint was lodged by Mohsin Rasheed, state coordinator of Rajasthan Muslim Forum as well as Minority Cell of the ruling Congress party, under IPC sections 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and 120B (criminal conspiracy).

The Class 12 textbook on Political Science deals with the issue in the chapter titled ‘Terrorism, Criminalisation of Politics and Corruption’.

There is a question on page 257, asking, “Which one of the following is not the main objective of Islamic terrorism?” The options were: “Establishment of Muslim nation in the world; Resistance of western non-Muslim powers through violent activities; Peace in the world; Implement Islamic laws and principles in the world.”

Question No. 5, under Short Answer Type Questions, reads: “What do you think of Islamic terrorism?”

An answer key, published by Jaipur-based Sanjiv Prakashan, states that “Islamic terrorism is a form of Islam”, and goes on to elaborate on the topic.

The textbook was published in 2018, during the tenure of BJP-led Vasundhara Raje state government.

Dr Bhanwar Singh Rathore, Associate Professor at department of Political Science, government college, Jodhpur, has been named as the convenor, author and translator of the textbook. He, along with a dozen government professors and teachers listed as members of the board and authors, have been named in the FIR.

Jaipur police also arrested three persons, including Muslim Parishad Sansthan president Yunus Chopdar, for vandalising Sanjiv Prakashan’s office on Wednesday.