‘Glorifies terrorists, separatists’: BJP asks CM Omar Abdullah to sack education minister over ‘anti-national book’ | Srinagar News
SRINAGAR: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday demanded the resignation of Jammu and Kashmir education minister Sakina Itoo, alleging that a book titled “Personalities and Legends of J&K” had been approved for government school libraries under the Samagra Shiksha scheme despite containing “anti-national” content.Addressing a press conference in Jammu, BJP’s legislator and leader of the opposition in J&K House, Sunil Sharma demanded that the book be banned and a criminal investigation be initiated into its publication, approval and distribution. He alleged that the book describes Kashmir as “Indian-Occupied Kashmir” and “Indian-Held Kashmir” at different places.The book contains a chapter on proscribed Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Maqbool Bhat, as well as chapters on separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Maulvi Muhammad Farooq, describing them as influential personalities.Sharma said the book glorifies separatists and terrorists, including Maqbool Bhat, sentenced to death by the Supreme Court.“This is a serious crime committed by the Education Department. I demand that the head of this government immediately sack the education minister,” Sharma said. “The minister should be removed. This is not a small crime. It is a serious act amounting to waging war against the country.”He also demanded that the book be banned and action be taken against its author, publisher, distributor and all members of the expert committee that approved it. “A book that refers to Kashmir as ‘Indian-Occupied Kashmir’ is objectionable and highly controversial,” he said, adding that the distribution of the book was an attempt to revive a narrative which is unacceptable and detrimental to the education system in Jammu and Kashmir. The Jammu and Kashmir government has not responded to the opposition charges so far.
