Patna: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Jharkhand headed by chief minister Raghubar Das has announced a novel tribute to former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee — incluing his biography in the school curriculum.
Vajpayee, who served as prime minister thrice, was the creator of Jharkhand state. He died last week after prolonged illness.
The Jharkhand government made the curriculum announcement on Monday, shortly after senior officials returned from Delhi — where they had attended Vajpayee’s funeral.
“We have decided to include the life of former Prime Minister Vajpayee in the school syllabus so that the next generation can know about his works and thoughts,” the chief minister told journalists.
The chief minister asked his education minister in the government Neera Yadav to daft modalities so that Vajpayee’s biography becomes part of the school syllabus from the next session.
“The chief minister has expressed his wish to include Vajpayee’s biography in school syllabus. We will draft a modality soon after discussions with education department officials,” the education minister said.
The state government has also planned to build a memorial for the former prime minister and start schemes after him, describing him as the “Father of Jharkhand”. “But for his effort, Jharkhand wouldn’t have become a reality. Now it’s the duty of the state government to do something special for him,” the chief minister said.
Jharkhand came into being on November 15, 2000 after it was carved out of Bihar. Vajpayee was prime minister when the new state was created.
Jharkhand, roughly translated as the “land of forests”, accounts for 40 per cent of mineral resources in India although it remains in the grip of poverty.
The “indebted” state government has also announced to immerse his ashes in at least four-five rivers of Jharkhand as a tribute to its leader. Das is the first non-tribal chief minister from Jharkhand.
Earlier the state government in Bihar headed by chief minister Lalu Prasad had kicked up similar controversy when a chapter on him was included in Grade eight syllabus of government schools. The chapter was included in 1993 while he was still serving as the chief minister of Bihar. The very chapter on Prasad titled “Pride of the Soil” was later removed from the school syllabus shortly after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government led by Nitish Kumar came to power in November 2005.
“Lalu Prasad’s life cannot be a model for school students,” the government said before deleting the chapter on Prasad from the school syllabus.
