Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Aug 4: The members of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti on Sunday August 4 held a protest near the deputy commissioner's office condemning the depiction of Jhansi Rani Laxmibai holding a hookah in the social science text book of CBSE class V.

The protestors demanded that the lesson be removed from the syllabus and appropriate action be taken against those reponsible.

Addressing the protestors, Prasanna Kamath said that by publishing such a picture of Rani Laxmibai, the publishers of the text book had insulted the freedom fighter.

"Jhansi Rani was a woman who had fought for the freedom of the country without caring for her own life. Inspired by her, others like Subhash Chandra Bose too fought for freedom and achieved their goal. She is still an inspiration for lacs of Indians," he said.

"However, the Congress government which wants to appease the minorities has indulged in an anti-national act by depicting her wrongly. On the one hand the central government is banning smoking and hookah in public places and in films, on the other hand it is publishing pictures of hookah in books of children. It is thus misleading the younger generation through such depiction of a freedom fighter in CBSE text book," he added.

He also slammed Congress for incorporating a chapter in praise of Rahul Gandhi in the CBSE text book and said that tomorrow they will include chapters on Sonia Gandhi and Karunanidhi and thereby sow the seeds of corruption and immorality in the minds of children and mislead them.