INDIA MUSLIMS REJECT HINDU SCHOOL BOOK
India, 7 Syawal 1434/14 Agustus 2013 (MINA) – Facing growing Indian Muslim anger, a Hindu ultra-nationalist ruling party in Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has shelved an earlier suggestion to include chapters of Hindu religious book in state schools.
“The decision to include chapters on Gita for madarsas was wrong and against the secular spirit of our constitution,” Muslim Personal Law Board member Arif Masood told OnIslam.net.
“This way the government was trying to interfere in the religious issues of Muslims.”
The uproar started earlier in August when Hindu ultra-nationalists Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh issued an order saying that a “chapter on Bhagwad Gita should be included in the textbook of general Hindi for Class III and IV, special English and special Urdu for Class 1 and II for the 2013-14 academic session.”
The Bhagwad Gita is a sacred book for majority of Hindus in India and is considered one of the pillars of Hinduism.
The circular came within a month of a July 4 notification that a chapter based on incidents in Bhagvad Gita will be added to textbooks of Special Hindi prescribed to Class IX to Class XII and Special English in Class XI and XII for the academic session 2013-14.
Rejecting opposition as totally ‘misleading and baseless’, the government said that along with the Gita book, subject of other faiths were added in school books
These include – life sketch of Prophet Mohammad, Karbala incident, Guru Nanak Dev, Gautam Buddha, Mahavir Swami, Jesus Christ and Nawaz of Ajmer.
“The controversy created over inclusion of episodes of Bhagwad Gita in school syllabus for academic session 2013-14 was not proper,” Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan said in a written statement.
“The notification that led to controversy has been withdrawn.”
The statement added that the subjects included from Gita book encourages students to engage in sports and live in harmony with other faiths.
Minority Worries
Despite government’s clarification, the decision has earned the ire of both Muslim and Christian religious minorities.
“In a secular country like India such decisions could disturb communal harmony,” Javed Akhtar, secretary of Coordination Committee for Indian Muslims, an organization fighting for the rights of the Muslims, told OnIslam.net.
President of Muslim Vikas Parishad, Mohammad Mahir also questioned the intention of the state government.
Not Only Muslims.
The opposition Congress party was also against the decision, alleging that it was taken in to satisfy the Hindu majority ahead of the coming elections in November.
“There was a political motive behind the decision,” said Pankaj Chaturvedi, Congress spokesman in Madhya Pradesh.
“If they wanted to teach something they should have taken the decision much earlier.”
Christian community has also voiced huge opposition to the government’s order.
“The inclusion of Hindu books was taken with the sole purpose of keeping the elections in mind,” Archbishop of Bhopal Leo Cornelio said.
“This is an attempt to appease the majority Hindu community in the state.”
Muslims account for 160 million of India’s 1.1 billion people, the world’s third-largest Muslim population after those of Indonesia and Pakistan.
Muslims and Christians constitute less than 7% of the total population in Madhya Pradesh.
According to Minority Rights Group International, followers of both faiths have been the target of attacks and discrimination in Madhya Pradesh. (T/P013/E1)
Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
