I consider myself fortunate to have enjoyed over three decades association with Dinanath Batraji, the visionary educationist and crusader who forced the then Congress regime at the Centre to delete objectionable passages about freedom fighters from the NCERT textbooks. I have closely witnessed Dinanath Batraji’s decade long battle from streets to the courts against NCERT, University of Delhi and several private national and international publishers.
It is commonly believed that life after retirement is just a time to pass the days. But Batraji left deep imprints in his post retirement life. He has been an inspiration for thousands of people across the country in the field of education. His life was dedicated to the cause of transforming Bharatiya education system. He even introduced the concept of annual events like ‘Gyanotsav’ to offer a platform to the people conducting new experiments in education.
My first encounter with Batraji was interesting. He had the responsibility of Vidya Bharati General Secretary and he used to frequently visit Keshav Kunj in Jhandewalan. One day, around 11.00 am, I was standing outside the reception area leaning on support. When he noticed it, he came to me and said: “Aap abhi boodhe nahin hue hain jo sahara lekar khade hain” (you are not old enough to stand with a support). I still remember his words every time I lean on support.
Winner in all Battles
Batraji’s commitment to the crusade against objectionable passages in textbooks about freedom fighters and national icons was admired even by a sitting judge in Delhi court. Batraji was always in the court much before the hearing time. But the advocate from the opposing side was either late or missing the hearings. One day, the judge admonished the opposing lawyer for his unpunctuality, saying,“Do you want the court to wait for you! Look at this ‘young man’. He is always before time.” In his everyday life also, Batraji was very punctual and normally did not keep his visitors waiting. He fought ten cases in different courts and lost none. The lawyer from the opposing side in many cases was Prashant Bhushan. Batraji always went to the court fully prepared and used to spend hours on research. I can recall that he always carried his tiffin from home and avoided spending organisation’s money on meals in restaurants.
He was very caring to his associates and colleagues in the organisation. When he started a campaign against the controversial book Three Hundred Ramayanas taught in the University of Delhi, he approached the University authorities to withdraw the book. When the University authorities did not take any action, he organised a protest, which the Delhi Police tried to suppress. But the workers, who had joined the protest, refused to go back. Finally, the police arrested them. In such a situation, Batraji was the first person to reach the police station with required papers to ensure bail for them. He fought that case all the way to the Supreme Court, ensuring each and every worker was released safely.
Shiksha Bachao Andolan
I have closely followed the activities of Shiksha Bachao Andolan (SBA) since its inception, beginning when its first meeting at Apte Bhavan in Keshav Kunj in June 2005 in the presence of former Union HRD Minister Dr Murli Manohar Joshi and other educationists including Dr JS Rajput. Since then, I have covered almost all the activities of SBA in Organiser. I monitored the entire court battle for deletion of 75 controversial passages from NCERT textbooks, which described the country’s freedom fighters as terrorists. Following the High Court verdict in early 2008, NCERT finally agreed to delete all the 75 objectionable passages from textbooks. The Ministry of HRD on June 9, 2008, had to direct NCERT “to be careful in future and ensure that no objectionable passages are included in any book prescribed for any school or college curriculum”. Before going to the court on this matter, Batraji had written a book Rashtravadiyon ko Atankvadi mat Banao to stir the countrymen.
Batraji also fought against the deletion of a chapter from University of Delhi textbook —Three Hundred Ramayana chapter in The Ancient Culture in India—that depicted characters of Ramayana in a highly objectionable manner. This controversial book, compiled by Prof. Upendra Kaur, the daughter of the then Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, drew a sexual inference on the relationship between Rama, Sita and Lakshman. Even Hanuman and other Hindu Gods and Goddesses were portrayed in bad light. The protest against this book was organised in the year 2007.
The thing that inspired me the most, while meeting him every time, was his positive thinking. I remember, he used to give a new turn to the discussion particularly focussing on negative matters. He used to say, “Instead of wasting our energy on discussing problems, let us discuss solutions also. If we discuss solutions, we will have a lot of solutions”. He was highly optimistic in his actions. He dedicated his life to improving the condition of education in the country. When the committee led by TSR Subramanian was working on evolution of New Education Policy (NEP), Batraji was on the forefront of providing inputs to that committee. Several points included in NEP 2020 can be attributed to Batraji.
When I look at the life and work of Batraji, I feel that he conceptualised the possible corrections in the curriculum as a teacher and then as a school principal. When he became the General Secretary of Vidya Bharti, he offered solutions to those difficulties through Shiksha Bachao Andolan Samiti instituted in 2004. Moreover, Batraji went through several books taught in different madrasas and exposed their objectionable content through a 48-page book. The High Court verdict of 2008 in the matter of ‘Dina Nath Batra Vs Union of India’ was a milestone and it was widely quoted by different lower courts while delivering their verdicts on different matters related to history and education. In this sense, he was the man who cleaned up textbooks.
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