Union minister urged to rectify mistake in ICSE textbook

Taking exception to the description of great philospher-poet-saint Sree Narayana Guru as leader of only a particular community in Kerala ignoring his contributions to social life, state BJP on Monday urged HRD minister Prakash Javadekar to rectify the 'major mistake' in the ICSE eighth standard textbook.

In a letter sent to the minister, BJP state president, Kummanam Rajasekharan, requested him to take necessary steps to rectify the mistake and withdraw the controversial part from the chapter titled 'Effective History and Civics' in the text.

As a social reformer, the Guru had led a reform movement in Kerala and rejected casteism, promoted new values of spiritual freedom and social equality.

"Guru always stressed the need for the spiritual and social uplift of the downtrodden by their own efforts through the establishment of temples and educational institutions".

With his tireless preaching of the doctrine of 'one caste, one religion, one God', the Guru had stood for moral and religious universalism and was a 'tireless crusader' for social equality and fought against all sorts of discrimination prevalent against the downtrodden and the oppressed in his times.

'This is also to be noted that great visionaries of his times, including Sree Ramana Maharshi, poet Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi drew admiration about his vision, philosophy and life', the letter, a copy of which was released to the media here said.

He urged the minister to direct the ICSE to modify and correct the controversial syllabus by including portions from 'Critique of Caste' (Jathi Memamsa) written by the Guru, who belonged to the backward ezhava community and had to face social injustice in the then caste ridden society of Kerala.