Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan flayed the HRD ministry’s decision to remove portions of the ‘Renaissance Movement’ from the class IX textbook of NCERT.
Portions of the historic Channar revolt (Maru Marakkal Samaram) of Kerala, the excerpts of the autobiography of C Kesavan’s ‘Jeevitha Samaram‘, are among those which have been removed.
Various political leaders in Kerala including the Opposition party hit out at the Centre for the decision. The CPI(M) leader said it reflects the Sangh Parivar’s agenda to rewrite history books to suit their needs as portions about the Renaissance movement, especially the struggles by Dalits and backward communities in the country, have been removed by NCERT. He stated in his Facebook post that it was was an attempt to wipe the renaissance values from the youth.
Opposition leader in the Kerala assembly Ramesh Chennithala wrote to the NCERT director to reinsert the portions removed, especially the agitation by lower class women to cover their breasts. Women of the Nadar community protested from 1813-1859 against this rule and successfully gained the right to wear clothes on their upper body.