Ahmedabad:
An activist-author who was widely criticized for having American scholar Wendy Doniger's book pulped on grounds that it insulted Hindus, will soon be part of the reading list in Gujarat schools.
The Gujarat government reportedly wrote to schools last month, asking them to include in their libraries books authored by Dinanath Batra, Convenor of the Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti.
Mr Batra is known for championing "Swadeshi" and "Akhand Bharat" or the right-wing Hindu idea of undivided India in his books.
Mr Batra's books, translated from Hindi to Gujarati, will be included in supplementary literature as part of a government initiative to encourage reading in schools.
The retired schoolteacher was in the spotlight in February this year for his lawsuit against author historian Wendy Doniger's
"The Hindus: An Alternative History."Publisher Penguin India was forced to recall and destroy all copies of the book as part of a Delhi court-backed settlement, and was pilloried by authors and activists for its capitulation.
Mr Batra had moved court in 2011 arguing that Ms Doniger's book insults Indians, especially Hindus, and is a "shallow, distorted, non-serious presentation of Hinduism filled with heresies".