Freedom fighter Savarkar no longer 'Veer' as Rajasthan govt make changes in textbooks

Jaipur, June 14: Within six months of taking charge, the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan made changes to school textbooks of the state board recently.

The modifications relate to historical events and personalities, and to decisions taken by the NDA government in its first term.

Among other changes, the prefix 'veer' was removed from name the of freedom fighter, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, from a chapter on freedom movement. The changes were made in the class 12 History book.

The new book describes how Savarkar after being tortured by British in a jail, called himself 'son of Portugal' on November 14, 1911 and later sent out three more mercy petitions to the British.

This came following the recommendations made by the textbook review committee set up on February 13 this year which are part of the curriculum of the state education board.

The freshly-printed books for the Rajasthan Board of Secondary Education (RBSE) were distributed in the market by the Rajasthan State Textbook Board (RSTB).