Gujarati textbook rocks legislature

Nagpur: After the uproar over the alleged printing of a few lessons in the Geography textbook for SSC board class 6 students in Gujarati, the proceedings in the legislative council were adjourned for the day. Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil alleged that the books with Gujarati lessons had been printed by the opposition. Irked by the allegation, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA Sunil Tatkare threatened to consume poison in the house if Mr Patil could prove the allegations.

It was Mr Tatkare who raised the issue of printing few pages of the geography text book in Gujarati. He slammed the government for its affection for Gujarati and demanded that it take action against the responsible persons.

Many NCP and Congress MLAs started chanting slogans against the government in the well of the house, in front of the chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, who directed the government to furnish an explanation and adjourned proceedings for some time.

In the absence of education minister Vinod Tawde, Mr Patil, the leader of the house, replied to Mr Tatkare’s charges.

He declared that there was no mistake in the printing of the textbooks by Balbharti. “This book might have been printed by the opposition leaders,” he alleged. Offended by Mr Patil’s allegations against him, the NCP leader challenged the government to prove the charges.

“I have been in politics since the last 30-35 years and have not done such wrong things. If Patil can prove his allegations, I will take poison in the council,” he said.

Leader of the opposition Dhananjay Munde pointed out that one lakh copies of the said class 6 geography text book had been printed for distribution to the government aided schools. “One lakh copies have been printed and the government should withdraw these copies which are faulty,”he said.