LS adjourned till 1300 hrs as BJP creates furore over IGNOU

New Delhi, Aug 25 (UNI) The Lok Sabha was adjourned for half-an-hour till 1300 hrs today as opposition BJP members created an uproar over the ''derogatory and insulting'' references to Hindu deities in IGNOU text-books.

Raising the issue through Call Attention motion, BJP's Vijay Kumar Malhotra (BJP) said Hindu gods and goddesses have been portrayed in very ''derogatory language'' in the MA course text books of IGNOU.

The IGNOU had already distributed over 15,000 copies of the book not only in India but in various parts of the world, he added.

In his response, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Arjun Singh said the matter had come to his notice, but since the President is the Chancellor of the Universities, the Ministry would request him to grant permission for instituting an inquiry into the matter so that the guilty could be punished.

Mr Malhotra said Lord Shiva has been described in the text book as a ''sage who rubs ashes in his body and breaks the heads of gods and goddesses.'' ''Speaker sir, you are also named after the god Shiva... you would not like to associate your name with this meaning,'' he said, to which Mr Chatterjee responded that ''you worship the Shiva but not me''.

Similarly, Prof Malhotra cited many other such referrences.

He also noted that the text books by NCERT for class XII has given a very ''dirty picture'' of the Jats, who were been described as ''bandits and dacoits.'' At this, some ruling UPA members raised objections and said that those chapters were been removed.

The BJP leader also noted that the book had described the great freedom fighter Khudiram Bose and other freedom fighters as terrorist leaders.

At this point, Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee tried to intervene, but drew the ire of the opposition, who demanded he clarify if Khudiram Bose was a terrorist.

As the furore did not stop inspite of the Speaker's repeated requests, he adjourned the house.

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