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School textbook glorifying Mamata's Singur stir raises hackles in Bengal

Sulagna Sengupta | Updated on: 21 February 2017, 21:27 IST
(Arya Kumar Sharma/Catch News)

The inclusion of the Singur land agitation in the Class VIII history textbook Atit O Aitijya has left the Bengal Teachers and Employees Association quite agitated.

 

Reason? The role of the Communist Party of India in “the greatest peasant movement of Bengal, the Tebhaga Andolan of 1946-47, isn't highlighted” in the book prepared by the West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.

 

The BTEA is affiliated with the CPI.

 

Also Read: With land deeds in hand, Singur farmers celebrate Durga Puja with fervour

 

According to the BTEA, the chapter titled “Struggle for Water, Land, Forest and Rights” plays up the role played by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the agitation against land acquisition for a Tata factory in Singur but ignores the contribution of “women leaders” to the Tebhaga Andolon.

 

Also, the book credits Trinamool Congress leaders Sovan Chatterjee and Firhad Hakim as having played a crucial role in the Singur agitation even though both stand accused in the Narada bribery scandal. At the same time, there is no mention of “intellectuals like Sunanda Sanyal and Tarun Sanyal who played important roles in the Singur Andolan”.

 

The association has now sent a “memorandum” to the school education board asking it to “revise the chapters and include the names of all people who took lead roles in the Singur movement”.

 

Swapan Mondal, the assistant general secretary of the BTEA, said, “The government should provide a clear and transparent picture of all peasant movements if it has been made compulsory in the school syllabus. Political rivalry and internal feuds inside the Trinamool should not come out openly in school books.”

 

Also Read: Mamata hands over land to Singur farmers, sows the first seeds

 

Mondal argued that “if they have to” mention in the book “some leaders who have purportedly taken bribes in the Narada scam”, then there should also be a brief about the bribery scandal alongside.

 

The Congress, the main opposition, also demanded revisions in the book. The party's leader in the assembly, Abdul Mannan, said, “It does not highlight key aspects of the Telangana statehood movement either. There is just a paragraph on the movement without any background, so it's not possible for the students to understand what it was about. We will raise the issue in the next assembly session.”

 

The government, however, appears reluctant to revise the book. Partha Chatterjee, the education minister, said, “We checked the details before finalising this chapter for the history syllabus of Class VIII. We believe names of those leaders have been mentioned whose contributions helped Mamata Banerjee continue with her movement in Singur.” He added, “We have also briefly discussed all past peasant movements in the book so that our students understand the history of these movements.”

 

Also Read: Political storm after chapter on Jat heroes removed from Haryana textbook

First published: 21 February 2017, 21:27 IST