Sasikala Pushpa, MP from Tamil Nadu, has urged Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar to remove “derogatory references” to the Nadar community of the State from the Class 9 social science textbook followed by the CBSE.
“I would like to bring to your kind notice [that] Standard IX CBSE social science book, page no. 168, clearly brings derogatory remarks about the Nadar community, referred [to] as ‘Shanars’ — which is an abusive word and a socially stigmatised concept,” the letter handed over by the Rajya Sabha MP, who was expelled from the AIADMK some months ago, to the HRD Minister said.
Ms. Pushpa claimed that the Nadars had been rulers. “The Nadar community is not a lower caste, as mentioned in the CBSE book; rather, they have been rulers of South India at one point of time,” Ms. Pushpa said.
Her letter recalled that the veteran politician Kamaraj, a Nadar, made an “immeasurable” contribution to the Indian leadership.
“Such derogatory remarks on Nadars in a school textbook may create discrimination, stigma, bias and prejudice in budding children, which is against our constitutional rights on equality,” it added.
