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Ahmedabad, June 9: A class IX Hindi textbook in Gujarat has referred to Jesus Christ as a demon. As per reports, a sentence in the textbook states that the stories of ‘demon’ Jesus will never be forgotten. The state education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama has said that the error will soon be rectified soon and a probe will also be conducted. The Hindi textbook belonged to the Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB).
Reportedly, the officials have claimed that a misprint was the cause of the error. They claimed that instead of “haiva”, a disciple of Jesus Christ along with ‘Aadam’, word ‘n’ got added and it was misprinted as “haivan”, meaning a demon. Earlier, several incidents related to hurting the religious sentiments of Christians have come into light in Gujarat.
The reference is present in the chapter 16 in the textbook titled Bharatiya Sanskriti Mein Guru-Shishya Sambandh (relationship between a guru and his disciples in Indian culture). As per Deccan Herald, on page 70 of the textbook, the line that refers to Jesus Christ as demon reads – “Iss sambandh mein haivan Isa ka ek kathan sadaa smaraniya hain.” Translated, it means, “In the given context, words of demon Jesus shall always be remembered.”
The mistake was noticed by advocate Subramaniam Iyer who said that the error attracts section 295 (a) of the IPC. Iyer added that however, the error may be unintentional but, it could lead to a rift between communities and also cause a law and order problem.
According to the The Times of India, the error was flagged by the Christian community a month back when a spokesperson of the Catholic Church of Gujarat pointed it out to the chairman of the GSSTB, the principal secretary of education and the chairman of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions (NCMEI).
Earlier, in another instance in Gujarat, some social science textbooks contained the line: All south Indians are “Madrasis.”
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