Gujarat: Christian community object reference to Jesus in textbook

The GSSTB officials have ​said ​ that the error w​ould be rectified. (Representational)

The Christian community in Gujarat has demanded the immediate withdrawal of the Class IX Hindi textbook and the scrapping of the chapter on Guru-Shishya sambandh for referring to Jesus as ‘hevaan’ (demon). They held a protest demonstration outside the office of the District Education Officer Friday against the error ​that has not been corrected since the book was put out last year, by the Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB)​.

The community has also demanded a public apology to be published by the Gujarat government.​ In chapter 16 ‘​Bhar​a​tiya sanskriti me guru-shishya sambandh’ on page number 69 ​has a line that says ‘iss sambandh me hev​a​an ​Isa ka ek kathan sada smarniya hai’. ​(In this context one anecdote of ‘demon’ Jesus, is very memorable)​

The GSSTB officials have ​said ​ that the error w​ould be rectified. However, the state Catholic Church spokesperson have claimed that the error was flagged to the concerned authorities last month but nothing has been done so far.