A state government booklet in India describing Mahatma Gandhi’s death as an "accident" has triggered a political row, with many demanding that action be taken against all those responsible for it.
A two-page brochure titled "Aama Bapuji: Eka Jhalaka" (Our Bapuji: A Glimpse), brought out by the School and Mass Education Department of eastern India’s Odisha state on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary, says that he died at the Birla House in New Delhi on 30 January 1948 in an accidental sequence of events.
Many feel that the misinformation about Mahatma Gandhi’s death was deliberate. Some political leaders and activists have demanded an apology from Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and immediate corrective measures in this regard.
— Niranjan Patnaik (@NPatnaikOdisha) November 14, 2019
— Rukshmani kumari (@KumariRukshmani) November 15, 2019
— Dr Arvind Mayaram ڈاکٹر اروند مایارام (@MayaramArvind) November 15, 2019
However, the Odisha government has ordered a probe to ascertain the circumstances that led to its publication by the School and Mass Education Department for distribution in state-run and state-aided schools.
Prafulla Samantara, an environmental activist from Odisha state, demanded the immediate withdrawal of the booklets. “The government must withdraw it, get it revised and send it back to the schools so that our future generation is not misled. The book seems to be published by fan of Nathuram Vinayak Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi".
Mahatma Gandhi led India’s freedom struggle by theorising and implementing the practice of "non-violence”. Even though he is revered by many Indians, some groups of Hindu ultranationalists have criticise his position as "yielding" to Muslims and agreeing to the division of the country into India and Pakistan in 1947. In 1948, Gandhi was assassinated by Nathuram Godse, a hardcore Hindu activist.
