A complaint was filed against three authors and a publisher of an Assamese reference book for Class 12 students, accusing them of “misguiding our upcoming students on our well-known Prime Minister”. The complaint was in reference to a line on the Narendra Modi-led Gujarat government during the 2002 communal violence, reported The Indian Express.
On September 15, Saumitra Goswami and Manab Jyoti registered a complaint via a letter sent to the Golaghat Police Station. The letter read, “It’s well-known to you that Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the supervision of Supreme Court gave cleansheet on PM Narendra Modi (sic) dated September 12, 2011, on this issue.”
It further said that the book “is misguiding our upcoming students on our well-known Prime Minister. Author along with publication (are) intentionally giving wrong communal information and dishonouring the SIT report made under the supervision of Supreme Court… By this, the authors (are) trying to draw an ill image of our beloved PM of the largest democracy by putting communal colour.”
On Page 376 of the political science book, under the section ‘Godhra Incident and Anti-Muslim Riot in Gujarat’, the paragraph in question reads, “In this incident [burning of coach] 57 persons died including women and children. On the suspicion that Muslims were behind the incident, next day Muslims were mercilessly attacked in different parts of Gujarat. This violence continued for over a month and over a thousand people were killed. Most of those killed were Muslims. Significantly, at the time of the violence, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government was a silent spectator. Moreover, there were allegations that the state administration helped the Hindus.”
Notably, the 390-page book, which was first published in 2006, is in accordance to the syllabus prescribed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and is currently in its 12th edition.
Goswami, one of the complainants, told IE, “Saying that the Gujarat government at that time was a ‘silent spectator’ is saying they supported the violence. But in 2011, a clean chit was given to our now PM. So why does the book not mention the clean chit? It’s misleading and should be banned or taken off the market… We have registered the complaint as concerned citizens. On coming to know about the said part in the book, we were shocked and compelled to go to police.”
The first information report (FIR) against Assam Book Depot and the three authors of the book, deceased Durgakanta Sarma, Rafiq Zaman and Manash Pratim Baruah, has been registered under IPC Sections 153A (relating to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race), 505 (related to publication which can incite any community) and 34 (relating to a criminal act done by several persons with a common intention).