Resentment over Rajasthan textbook material, case registered

The Jaipur police on Thursday registered a criminal case in Rajasthan after expressing displeasure over social media and Muslim groups on some of the contents of the school textbook and a guidebook on political science, who want to link religion to terrorism. The textbook is published by the Rajasthan State Textbook Board.

In a chapter on “Terrorism, Politics and the Criminalization of Corruption”, a Class XII textbook asks a question, “What do you understand by Islamic terrorism?” Multiple choice question, “Which of the following is not the main objective of Islamic terrorism?” The establishment of a Muslim nation gives options to enforce Islamic laws and principles, establish peace, and resist Western non-Muslim powers with violence.

The material in the book, published for the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education, was allegedly introduced during the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime. Bhanwar Singh Rathore, Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Government College, Jodhpur, is listed in the textbook as the convener, author and translator.

The answer key given in the students’ guidebook published by Sanjeev Prakashan of Jaipur states that Islamic terrorism is a “form of Islam” and to go into detail on the subject. It states that Islamic terrorism “became very powerful during the last 20 to 30 years” and “brought devastation to the world by demands of suicide attacks, unlimited vandalism, blackmail, extortion and heinous murders”.

“Islamic terrorists dedicate themselves to their community and commit heinous crimes in the name of their religion and Allah,” the North states, adding that terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir was “purely religious” And it can be put in the category of separatism.

A First Information Report was filed under Section 295A (intentional and malicious acts, for the purpose of offending the religious sentiments of any class) and 120B (criminal conspiracy of the Indian Penal Code) at Lal Kothi Police Station, Jaipur. . Complaint lodged by Mohsin Rashid, General Secretary of Minority Cell of State Congress Committee.

Mr Rashid said the books directly linked religion to terrorism using “Islamic terrorism” and promoted hatred for Islam and Muslims. “Apart from inciting and humiliating Muslim students, teachers and the community, it is an attempt to destroy the unity and integrity of the country,” he said in his complaint, while against those responsible for writing and approving the textbook Demanded action.

Naeem Rabbani, a member of the Rajasthan Muslim Forum, blamed the Congress government for not removing “objectionable material” in the last two years. He said that when the BJP had inserted reading material that matched its ideology during its rule, it was strange that the Congress had not abandoned it during its exercise on revision of textbooks.

The Muslim Council Institute, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) and Popular Front of India have also demanded withdrawal of the textbook and guidebook and revising the course of political science. JIH state president Mohammad Nazimuddin said that the state board should ensure that objectionable questions were not asked in the upcoming examinations.

The publisher Sanjeev Prakashan’s office in Wald City is reportedly attacked by a group of youths on Wednesday evening and ransacked furniture and bookshelves. Police arrested three people in connection with the incident.