Punjab Government on Sunday banned three “objectionable” history books — ‘Modern ABC of History of Punjab’ authored by Manjit Singh Sodhi; a history book by Mahinder Pal Kaur and ‘History of Punjab’ by MS Mann for Class XII — for allegedly distorting facts related to the Sikh history.
At the same time, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has also ordered action against its writers and publishers.
The ban came after five years of continuous protests by the Sikh scholars, activists, and farmer leaders, among others against the distortion of facts in the said books which were part of the school board curriculum. The books, facing ban, has been published by different Jalandhar-based publishers.
Sharing the information on Twitter, the state Education Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Sunday tweeted in Punjabi, “Sikh history is invaluable for all of us and also for the future generations. Wrong facts regarding the Sikh history have been presented in Class XII ‘History of Punjab’ book....As per directions by the Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, irders have been issued to initiate action against the guilty authors and publishers, besides banning the book.”
The decision to ban these books was taken following a report by an inquiry committee, which was formed following a complaint by farmer leader Baldev Singh Sirsa. In his complaint, Sirsa had said that these books contained some remarks which were not in accordance with the Sikh history.
Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) chairman Yograj Singh said that the School Education Department principally accepted the contents of the inquiry report with the directions that these books be banned for sale and not be taught in schools in the state of Punjab.