Rejecting allegations of removal of references to Jawahar Lal Nehru from a Class VII textbook in Rajasthan, state School Education Minister Vasudev Devnani on Tuesday claimed the revised syllabus has the first prime minister's name at 15 places in different textbooks.
"The government has not omitted Nehru's name from textbooks. His name is there at 15 places in the revised books. The references to Nehru are available in textbooks of Class 7 (Hindi), Class 9 (Social science) and Class 11 (World History)," Devnani said in a statement.
He said Nehru's role in freedom movement, introducing Panchayti Raj system and non-aligned movement have been given space in the revised textbooks.
"The state government does not favour politics in education. Syllabus from class 1 to 8 is prepared by the State Institute of Education Research and Training and the Board of Secondary Education prepares the syllabus for classes 9 to 12.
He also said if two or three chapters on Nehru were not included in the syllabus, they would be added in the textbook in supplementary form.
Earlier in the Day, opposing the move to omit references to Nehru from the textbook, the state unit of Congress held a demonstration here with PCC chief Sachin Pilot saying that it reflected the "mental bankruptcy" of the Raje government.
