Christians in Gujarat have demanded withdrawal of a school textbook that refers to Jesus Christ as a demon whose stories would be remembered forever.
The lesson appeared in the Hindi textbook for ninth grade under the Gujarat State Board.
The education minister and the chairperson of the textbook board have said that the error will be rectified soon. Officials said that the mistake was caused by a misprint.
The reference to Jesus Christ as a demon is made in chapter 16 of the book titled “Bharatiya Sanskriti Mein Guru-Shishya Sambandh” (the teacher-disciple relationship in the Indian culture).
On page 70, the line referring to Jesus Christ reads – “Iss sambandh mein haivan Isa ka ek kathan sadaa smaraniya hain.” Translated, it means that in this context, an incident of demon Jesus will always be remembered. The underlined sentence translates to “an incident of demon Jesus will always be remembered.”
Subramaniam Iyer, a lawyer who noticed the mistake, says that the error attracts section 295 (a) of the Indian Penal Code, which pertains to deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class. Speaking to News18, Iyer said, “Jesus is being portrayed as a demon to students. Quite clearly, this is a case that attracts section 295(a) of the IPC that pertains to hurting the religious sentiments of any class.”
Iyer said that the error may be unintentional, but it can create a rift between communities and cause a law and order problem. “This simply is unacceptable and should be removed immediately,” he added.
The news channel contacted Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama who said he was aware of the error and added that it will be corrected.
Nitin Pethani, chairperson of the Gujarat State Board of School Textbooks, said that it was a typographical error. “The word “haiva,” a disciple of Jesus Christ, got misprinted as “haivan,” meaning a demon,” he said, adding that “Aadam Isa” and “Haiva Isa” were the two disciples of Christ and an “n” inadvertently got printed in the book.
Christians from across the city and district submitted a memorandum to the district collector over the class IX Hindi Textbook published by Gujarat State School Textbook Board (GSSTB) that had printed adjective ‘hevaan’ or demon for Jesus Christ.
Christians from Syrian Church, Pentecost, Brethren Mission, Protestant, Roman Catholic and other denominations have expressed shock over the Textbook referring Jesus Christ as a demon.
Christians took out a rally and submitted a memorandum to district collector Mahendra Patel here on June 12.
