EC probing BJP’s 'communal party' tag in Tripura school books

Agartala, March 17 (IANS) The Election Commission of India is probing the BJP being tagged a "communal party" in the textbooks of government schools in Left-ruled Tripura, an official said Monday.

"We are inquiring the BJP's allegation. We have asked the education department to submit a report about this," Tripura Chief Electoral Officer Ashutosh Jindal told reporters, adding "After getting the report, we would send it to the Commission to take a decision."

On Sunday, Bharatiya Janata Party's intellectual cell in Tripura, in a letter to Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) V.S. Sampath, alleged that the secondary-level political science textbooks had branded the party as communal to brainwash students.

Cell convener Prasenjit Chakraborty, in his letter to the CEC, wrote :"The Bengali medium political science book of Class XI, in its chapter titled 'India's party system' said one of the important characteristics of India's party system is the existence of communal parties. Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha and Shiv Sena are among such parties, besides BJP. Parties like the BJP, though not based on religion, succeeded in capturing power through communalisation of politics."

"On the basis of the textbook authored by Nimai Pramanik, the authorities of Arundhuti Nagar Higher Secondary School recently asked the students to mention the names of the communal parties of the country. Students were asked to choose one among four options. These are : 1) Congress, 2) CPI-M, 3) BJP and 4) BSP. According to the textbook the right answer is BJP," Chakraborty said in his letter.