Remove Partha Chatterjee's name, Singur Andolan chapter from books: BJP

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday demanded to remove the "Singur Andolan" chapter from history books claiming that the chapter has glorified "corrupt" Partha Chatterjee by calling him a freedom fighter.

BJP National Secretary Anupam Hazra asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to remove former Bengal Minister Partha Chatterjee's name from the pages of history books of the Madhya Shiksha Parshad.

"Honourable Chief Minister, this man is now in jail for embezzling money from millions of educated unemployed youth. Now at least remove his name from the pages of Class 8 History books. Otherwise, the new generation will start considering this person as equivalent to Netaji and Khudiram after seeing his name on the pages of the book," tweeted Hazra.

Partha Chatterjee was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with the School Service Commission (SSC) scam in West Bengal.

Anupam Hazra while speaking to ANI said, "I have requested Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee through my tweet to remove Partha Chatterjee's name from history books. Names of those people who have great work for the country are written on the pages of history books. Now, if the names of corrupt people like Partha Chatterjee, who is already in jail, are written in history books, then the children will start considering Partha Chatterjee as equal to Khudiram Bose and Netaji."

According to the BJP leader, the 'Singur Andolan' chapter would mislead the new generation.

"We want that "Singur Andolan" chapter which has been forcibly included in the textbooks in Bengal, should be removed as it will mislead the new generation," he added.

"Right now only Partha Chatterjee's name has come up in the scam, someday Mamta Banerjee's name can also come up. No guarantee. So the Singur Andolan chapter should be removed from the whole chapter because the next generation should not read this. It is the psychology of the people to respect those whose names are etched in books. Then if all these thieves and corrupt people are glorified then it will mislead the next generation," said the BJP National Secretary.

In the 'Singur Andolan' chapter, TMC has tried to project that it has brought Independence to the people of Bengal from the hands of CPI (M) ruled in Bengal for about 35 years. The chapter highlighted extortion, murder and gross mismanagement in Bengal during CPI(M) rule.

"Mamata Banerjee wants to see her name written in the history books. She is very fond of this. So when she came to power, a chapter of the "SingurAndolan" was forcibly included in the Class 8 history book of Bengal. So, Partho Chatterjee has also been glorified there as well," he added.