Gujarat textbook refers to Jesus as haivaan'; shame to India' says Cong

Itanagar: The blunder in a Gujarat government school text book referring to Jesus Christ as 'haivaan' (devil) has brought shame to India, Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee president Takam Sanjoy said on Wednesday.

This was particularly shameful as Gujarat was the land of Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Sanjoy told PTI.

He called for immediate remedial steps to assuage the hurt sentiment of Indians, particularly the Christian community.

The class IX Hindi language textbook published by the Gujarat State School Textbook Board has used 'haivaan' (devil) before Jesus Christ, instead of the intended word 'bhagwan' (God) in one of its chapters, which triggered protests from Christians.

The board has removed the controversial word in the online version of the book available on its website.

Sanjoy also lauded Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh Governor P B Acharya for writing to his Gujarat counterpart Om Prakash Kohli about this issue.