UP Board to include Savarkar in school books

Classes 9 to 12 in UP Board will study the biography of Savarkar for UP Board.

Apart from Savarkar, the chapters include lives of Deen Dayal Upadhyay, Mahavir Jain, Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, Aurobindo Ghosh, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sarojini Naidu, Nana Saheb, Chandra Shekhar Azad and Ramakrishna Paramahansa, among others.

UP education minister Gulab Devi said that the inclusion of these chapters was aimed at strengthening the moral and cultural values of children who will grow up and take part in nation building.

She said that the opposition parties were getting frustrated and were criticising the move.

Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party (SP) has asked the UP government to reconsider its decision to include the chapter on Veer Savarkar.

SP spokesman Sunil Sajan said that the state government should apologise to millions of freedom fighters for eulogizing Veer Savarkar who had betrayed their sentiments by apologizing to the British rulers.