IIOJK governor suspends 8 educationists over library book amid BJP pressure
The Lieutenant Governor of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir has ordered the suspension of eight officials of the School Education Department (SED) over the approval and procurement of a library book, Personalities and Legends of J&K (Series-4), in a move that has drawn criticism as another instance of political interference in the education sector.
The action came hours after the SED withdrew two books from government school libraries following a campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and allied groups, which branded the publications as “controversial” and demanded their immediate removal.
The administration alleged that the suspended officials were guilty of “serious negligence, dereliction of duty and lack of proper due diligence” for recommending books that it claimed contained “highly inappropriate content.”
The SED said that Samagra Shiksha had received a library grant for procuring age-appropriate books for 18,328 government schools, after which an Expression of Interest (EOI) was floated. Four expert sub-committees comprising academicians from occupied Jammu and Kashmir evaluated books submitted by publishers and recommended titles for different school levels.
According to the department, the committees selected 463 books submitted by 364 publishers. However, two books were later withdrawn after objections were raised by BJP leaders and affiliated groups.
The order stated that 123 copies of one of the books had been supplied to schools in Jammu, Ramban and Udhampur districts, while 128 copies of the other had been distributed in Jammu and Baramulla districts before their withdrawal.
The Lieutenant Governor also ordered the banning and blacklisting of the authors and publishers of both books — Personalities and Legends of J&K, authored by Hilal Ahmad and Santosh Meena and published by Oberoi Book Service, Jammu, and Great Personalities of Jammu and Kashmir, authored by Dr Sushant Giri and published by Anurag Prakashan, Delhi. The order further directed that all printed material authored or published by them be withdrawn from the territory. Besides the eight suspended officials, including a principal and four lecturers, a contractual computer assistant attached to Samagra Shiksha was disengaged with immediate effect.
According to the objections raised by Hindutva groups, the books carried chapters on several prominent Hurriyat leaders, including Syed Ali Gilani, Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Masarrat Aalam Butt, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Maulvi Muhammad Farooq, as well as Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front founder Muhammad Maqbool Butt.
Political observers said the controversy underscores the authorities’ growing intolerance towards alternative historical and political narratives, with critics arguing that the removal of such material from educational institutions is part of a broader campaign to censor viewpoints that do not conform to the BJP-led regime’s ideological agenda in the occupied territory.
