Guwahati, Sep 25: Leader of the Opposition in Assam Assembly Debabrata Saikia on Friday urged Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to retain the chapters on the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s policies in the class 12 syllabus. Nehru’s policies, the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, the Ayodhya dispute, Gujarat riots, women empowerment, minority rights, the Mandal Commission report and the first three general elections are some of the topics that have been excluded from the class 12 syllabus of the state board.
The chapters were excluded by the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC) to reduce the students’ load by 30 per cent on account of the loss of academic schedule due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to Sonowal, Saikia stated that any move to ease the workload of students is welcome in the abnormal situation created by COVID-19.
“However, the choice of which chapters to drop is questionable,” the senior Congress leader said. Saikia cited the instances of chapters relating to the nation-building policies of Nehru, his foreign policies, and the ‘Garibi Hatao’ campaign initiated by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi being excluded.
Saikia said that a concerted campaign is going on by a certain section over the past few years to tarnish the image of Nehru and deny his contribution to the nation. “There is ground to suspect that this force is behind the AHSEC’s decision to drop chapters about Pandit Nehru from the curriculum. As such, the AHSEC needed to be directed to drop some other chapters and retain those on Nehru and his policies,” he added.
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