MP: Are Gonds beef-eaters? Assembly plunges into chaos

BHOPAL

: The assembly was adjourned sine die on Wednesday after unruly scenes broke out over the mention of Gond tribe as “beef eaters” in a geography MA textbook. The state government has ordered an inquiry into the publication.

During zero hour, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ajay Singh informed the house about the book ‘Bharat Ka Bhugol’, written by Harish Kumar Khatri and published by Kailash Pustak Sadan, Bhopal, which is being taught at a college in Umaria district. It claims that meaning of Gond in Gondi dialect is “beef eating people” or “those who kill cows”.

It’s an insult to the people of Gondwana, an erstwhile ruling state of the region, Singh said. “This is highly objectionable and derogatory to Gond tribals. The BJP government has come to power with the help of tribal votes and teaching such a sensitive matter to students this way is highly objectionable,” he said amid pandemonium in the house by Congress legislators.

When finance minister Jayant Malaiyya, panchayat minister Gopal Bhargava and MLA Kailash Vijayavargiya asked the Opposition benches to follow the process of raising question in the house, the Congress MLAs intensified their protest, raised slogans against the government and stormed the well of the house. Speaker Sitasharan Sharma adjourned the house for 10 minutes.

Higher education minister Jaibhan Singh Pavaiyya said that the book was neither published by the government nor included in the course by the higher education authorities. “We have ordered an inquiry and showcaused the publisher. We are also initiating a process to blacklist the book, publisher and writer after a detailed probe,” said Pavaiyya.

When the house reassembled, school education minister Vijay Shah tried to pacify opposition members by saying: “I am a Gond tribe member and am hurt by the details published in the textbook. We have ordered an inquiry.”

Congress members Omkar Singh Markam, Bala Bachchan, Mukesh Nayak, Ramniwas Rawat demanded that government apologise. Ruling benches reacted and the clamour drowned out the chair's pleas to allow discussion on the matter. Speaker Sharma again adjourned the house for 10 minutes. He called Singh and other senior Congressmen to discuss the issue with the legislative affairs minister Narottam Mishra, but to no avail.

When the house reassembled a second time, Congress MLAs stormed the well, raising slogans and demanding an apology from the chief minister, who was not in the house.

Speaker Sharma told the members to continue with the proceedings of the day. The Opposition members continued creating disturbance. After one and a half-hour of the pandemonium, the Speaker \adjourned the session for the day.

Singh later told reporters that the government has “insulted the Gond tribe” but was not ready to apologise. “We will continue our protest till the matter is resolved,” he said.

Legislative affairs minister Narottam Mishra said Congress was trying to avenge the humiliating defeat in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand by creating a disturbance. “Congress has no other issue to discuss in the house and is only creating scenes, which is highly objectionable,” he said.