New Delhi, Aug 29 : Agreeing with the demands of BJP and BSP to include in school curriculum a chapter on life of freedom fighter Rani Avanti Bai, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal today regretted a translation mistake in a reply in Parliament on the issue.
“I can't give directions on the issue but the sentiments of the House will be conveyed to the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT),” Sibal said in the Rajya Sabha.
“In the reply it was said that the matter was ‘thakane wala' (tiring)...We regret the mistake in translation,” he said.
Earlier the House had to be adjourned twice after Ganga Charan (BSP) said during Zero Hour that in reply to his question earlier this month the government had expressed inability to include the life of Rani Avanti Bai in school syllabus.
He said government's explanation was that school students were already overburdened.
Joined by his party colleagues and BJP members, he asked how freedom fighters can become burden. The Upper House was first adjourned for 15 minutes as BJP joined the protest by BSP members, who said the government had rejected their demand in this regard.
When it re-assembled at 1240 hrs, some BJP members trooped into the well as their Deputy Leader S S Ahluwalia demanded that Sibal should be immediately called. Trouble began after Ganga Charan (BSP) said during Zero Hour that in reply to his question earlier this month the government had expressed inability to include the life of Rani Avanti Bai in the school syllabus.
He said government's explanation was that school students were already overburdened. Joined by his party colleagues and BJP members, he asked how freedom fighters can become burden. BJP members resorted to slogan shouting, “Insult to freedom fighters will not be tolerated.”
Rani Avantibai Lodhi was the wife of Vikramaditya Singh, the ruler of the state of Ramgarh. She was a Lodhi-tribe warrior-queen. When he died, leaving his wife with no heir, the British took over Ramgarh under the Doctrine of Lapse, Avantibai vowed to fight the British to regain her land and her throne.
She raised an army of four thousand and personally led it against the British in 1857. When, after a few months' struggle, she saw that her defeat was imminent, she killed herself with her own sword on March 20, 1858.
