THE CONGRESS alleged on Tuesday that the BJP-led state government’s decision of purchasing 1.5 lakh books about Prime Minister Narendra Modi for its schools was an “agenda to promote the BJP among schoolchildren”.

“The state government should clarify under which category — mythological, religious and historical — were the books on Prime Minister being purchased for the schools run by the state government. If they were being purchased under the mythological category, we have never read the name of a Prime Minister in mythological books; if bought under historical category, then the Prime Minister is not related to the freedom struggle. This means that the only purpose of purchasing the books on Prime Minister is to promote BJP among schoolchildren,” Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, leader of opposition in the state Legislative Assembly, said during a press conference on Tuesday.

He added that, as compared to the lakhs of books being purchased about the Prime Minister, the state government has significantly reduced the number of books it is going to buy on Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Dr B R Ambedkar The Opposition leader added that books worth Rs 20 were purchased for Rs 50, the total expenditure of which would be about Rs 8.17 crore, from Bhartiya Vichar Sadhane — RSS-linked publishing house.

“The BJP-led government has favoured the publishing house by paying more amount than required. The content of the books is beyond the understanding of schoolchildren,” he added.

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