DMK raises cartoon,experts point to text

On Saturday,UPA ally and DMK chief M Karunanidhi threw his weight behind Vaikos demand,saying the cartoon ridiculing such a movement would infuriate Tamils8230; therefore,the Centre should immediately intervene and ensure it is removed from textbooks to respect Tamils sentiments.

The cartoon by R K Laxman appears on page 153 of the book Politics in India since Independence.

Prof Yogendra Yadav,who was Chief Advisor to the Textbook Committee that brought out this textbook in 2005 under the National Curriculum Framework,defends the depiction of the cartoon and points out that it is one of the four elements in a chapter on regional movements and is well balanced by the other three elements in the text.

Far from denigrating regional movements,this textbook actually celebrates them including the Dravidian movement. Let me explain this particular chapter. It has four elements a biographical introduction to the Dravidian leader Periyar,a photograph showing the mass mobilisation that resulted from the anti-Hindi agitation,a paragraph on Hindi protagonists and finally this particular cartoon which only correctly brings out the political point made by many commentators at that time,that is,the irony that while many were demanding English over Hindi,they did not understand either language. These four elements together create a balance in this chapter, Yadav told The Sunday Express.

Yadav said that special efforts were made to ensure that the chapter was absolutely correct.

Four historians went through the textbook. Several rounds of vetting was done. The irony is that while this is the first textbook that delineates post 1947 history of India and gives space to the Dravidian movement and shows that intense regionalism can coexist with deep nationalism,it is now being attacked, he said.

Yadav also refuted the argument that the textbook has maligned the Dravidian movement in any way. He points out that this textbook has biographic descriptions of Annadurai page 88 and Kamraj page 91.

He said the textbook was scrutinised by Chief Advisor for the text Suhas Palshikar and also three historians Sunil Khilnani,Ramachandra Guha and Mahesh Rangarajan.

That apart,a special sub-committee of the National Monitoring Committee comprising Mrinal Miri,G P Deshpande and Gopal Guru was constituted for this book. This committee read the book three times before it was approved.