Rajasthan recalls text on Godhra for ‘quality checks’ | India News – Times of India

JAIPUR: A textbook purportedly on the 2002 Godhra carnage and its aftermath is among four that are being recalled in BJP-governed Rajasthan, a month after these were distributed among govt schools in the state.
Rajasthan School Education Council instructed the district education officers on Oct 21 to ask the schools to return all copies of the textbooks Jivan ki Bahar and Chitti – Ek Kutta Aur Uska Jungle Farm for classes 9 to 12, and Adrishya Log – Umeed aur Sahas ki Kahaniya and Jivan ki Bahar for classes 11 and 12.
School principals are required to collect and deposit copies of all four books at their respective block-level offices.
The order states that a “GSM check” would be conducted to test the quality of paper and printing, attributing the recall to alleged technical deficiencies. A private organisation published all four books through a library grant in 2023-24.
“Nau Lambe Saal” (Nine long years), one of the chapters in Adrishya Log-Umeed aur Sahas ki Kahaniya, revisits the response to the Godhra carnage.

“Gujarat govt had claimed that in the Godhra train fire incident, there was a terrorist conspiracy. But this was never proved. High court, Supreme Court and even special courts reached the conclusion that there was no terrorist conspiracy in the incident, and that the three suspects (who spent nine years in jail) have not committed any crime,” it states.
The chapter also mentions that after the massacre of kar sevaks, “police in civil dress with their faces covered went to the Malin basti…and arrested 14 youth without giving any explanation to the families.”
State Congress president Govind Singh Dotasra said, “Who is responsible for ‘spreading hatred, poisoning’ and teaching ‘indecent language’ in the name of education in Rajasthan? The education minister is pressuring officials and purchasing books against the rules using Rs 30 crore of the public’s hard-earned money to spread hatred among children.”
He said that instead of moral education, “the limits of immorality are being crossed”.
“It is expected of CM Bhajan Lal Sharma that this material being distributed among children should be investigated and action taken against the culprits.”