A political slugfest erupted after the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleged that textbooks for Delhi government schools had been printed on substandard paper and did not meet tender specifications. Rejecting allegations of irregularities, Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood accused AAP leaders of indulging in “shoot and scoot” politics.
Calling out AAP leaders as “unemployed politicians fighting for survival,” Sood rejected their allegations of a textbook procurement scam point-by-point by distributing physical textbook copies, tender work orders, and measuring rulers directly to journalists during a press conference. He said the government was examining the matter and would take “appropriate action after reviewing the facts”.
Taking a direct swipe at AAP’s leadership dynamics, Minister Ashish Sood attributed the false allegations to desperation among senior AAP leaders trying to maintain their relevance against newly joined party members.
“New ‘Chhotus’ (junior/minion leaders) have arrived in their party. So that the relevance of the ‘old/big Chhotus’ remains greater than these ‘new/small Chhotus,’ unemployed leaders are spreading lies to run their political shops. Caught up in this internal fight between the big Chhotus and small Chhotus, these leaderless politicians are wandering around making baseless claims.” Earlier, AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the Class 8 Hindi textbook ‘Malhar,’ printed through the Delhi government’s tender process, had relatively inferior-quality paper and small print size compared to edition available in market.
“Class 8 students are being given a book with such tiny print that they would need a magnifying glass to read it. Chief Minister Rekha Gupta’s photograph has been printed on the first page so that everyone knows who the book is being provided courtesy of. There is a world of difference between the two books.”
He claimed that while the tender specifications required A4-sized books printed on 80 GSM (grams per square metre) paper, the government-supplied copies used 60 GSM paper of poor quality.
Rebutting AAP’s allegations regarding the procurement of the Class 8 Hindi textbook ‘Malhar’, the Minister presented physical proof comparing current purchases with those made under the previous AAP regime. He said While AAP alleged a scam over NCERT selling books for Rs 65, the Delhi government purchased the Malhar textbook for just Rs 28.61. Under the previous AAP government in 2022, a textbook of the exact same size (Griha Vigyan) was printed at Rs 55—nearly double the current price.
“The tender specifications explicitly required dimensions of 17.1 cm x 24.1 cm (A4 / standard format), exactly matching previous years’ standards,” he said. Sood challenged reporters to measure both books with the provided rulers to verify that no size reduction took place.
According to Sood, the highest textbook prices reached up to Rs 110 and Rs 133 under the previous AAP government, the present government—despite cost inflation over four years—has capped the highest book price at just Rs 51.