Veer Savarkar To Be Part Of Madhya Pradesh School Syllabus: Shivraj Chouhan

Lessons on Hindutva ideologue late VD Savarkar will be taught in Madhya Pradesh schools, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Thursday.

Chief Minister Chouhan said Savarkar served double life sentences in the infamous Cellular Jail in the Andamans and such were the rigours that he came to know about the incarceration of his brother (Ganesh Savarkar) "years later".

"Even today if you go to Cellular Jail, you will know how he lived there. Lessons on someone who dedicated his entire life to the nation will be taught in schools," he told reporters in Morena.

Earlier in the day, MP school education minister Inder Singh Parmar said lessons on Savarkar will be included in the school syllabus as part of the National Education Policy (NEP).

Mr Parmar also alleged that the Congress, which ruled the country for a major part after Independence, ignored many revolutionaries while concentrating on glorifying just one family.

"As part of the NEP, the life of Bhagwan Parshuram, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Subhash Chandra Bose and Veer Savarkar and (teachings of) Gita will be included (in the syllabus) as part of India's knowledge tradition so that people get to know about their contribution," Mr Parmar told PTI.

Criticising the move, Madhya Pradesh Congress media cell chairperson KK Mishra termed it as a political one ahead of year-end Assembly polls.

He said the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state was seeking to divert the attention of people from core problems like inflation and unemployment.

KK Mishra also said a lesson from 'Savarkar Samagra', in which the Hindutva ideologue advocated cow rearing and not cow worship, must also be included.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)