BJP Criticizes Jammu and Kashmir Book for Glorifying Separatists and Terrorists

There has been a raging controversy in Jammu and Kashmir over some chapters of the book Personalities and Legends of Jammu and Kashmir published under the Samagra Shiksha Policy. The Bharatiya Janata Party has hit out at the Jammu and Kashmir government, calling the book an "academic jihad." Leader of the Opposition in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly Sunil Sharma has alleged that some chapters of the book glorify separatists and terrorists. Sunil Sharma said, "The book describes Maqbool Bhatt as a martyr, calls India an occupier of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and glorifies Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed." He called it an attempt to poison the minds of the youth. Sharma demanded that the chief minister sack the education minister. He said the book should be immediately banned and all the culprits should be booked for sedition. He alleged that the book does not contain any historical details, but is full of anti-India material. The disco Sharma sponsored is part of a three-decade-old political movement.