-The Indian Express
In contrast to the Thorat committee report which had recommended removal of over 20 cartoons from NCERT textbooks, the NCERT’s textbook development committee and national monitoring committee have listed only three-four cartoons for removal. However, the cartoon that is reported to have offended UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is not in the list, leaving the Kapil Sibal-led HRD ministry in a spot.
Highly placed sources said the ministry has asked the NCERT to reconsider the necessity of retaining this cartoon in its Class XII textbooks. The textbook development committee is yet to take a final decision.
The cartoon in question shows Indira Gandhi setting fire to a hut with a pig trapped inside — the hut depicting the Congress and the pig its “Syndicate”.
Among the cartoons that have been recommended for removal are: B R Ambedkar on a snail with Jawaharlal Nehru cracking the whip, which triggered the whole debate; another on the anti-Hindi agitation in Chennai; a third on the Kashmir situation. There are a couple of other changes that have been recommended in some cartoon captions.