Nadars protest, call CBSE chapter ‘objectionable’

MUMBAI: The Nadar community in Mumbai observed a day-long hunger strike on Monday to protest against ‘derogatory references’ to the community in chapter 8 of a Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) social studies book for Class 9.

The community objected to a topic in the textbook ‘India and Contemporary World [1]’ that mentions the struggle of Nadar women in the past to cover their breasts and also refers to the community as a ‘subordinate caste’. The CBSE spokesperson was unavailable for comments till the time of going to press.

According to the protesters, they have been fighting the issue for more than six years. In 2012, J Jayalalithaa, the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, had written a letter to Dr Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister, requesting to ‘remove objectionable references towards the Nadar community from the textbook’. In 2016, the Madras high court had asked the CBSE to remove ‘objectionable references’ to the community and the board had then issued a circular to its schools to omit the section from the curriculum with effect from 2017. This year, however, the board has not abided by the changes.

“We are descendants of Cheran, Cholan and Pandyan kingdoms. Our community members were placed in good positions during the British era and even had started the Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank. These things should be taught instead of focusing on how other communities removed the clothes of our community members,” said S James Ponniah Nadar, vice secretary, Satriyakala Nadar Peravai, a group representing Nadars.

SV Raja, vice president of Mumbai Nadar Badai, another group representing the community, said the community intends to conduct a signature campaign and inform the Prime Minister that despite assurances, little changes have been made in the textbook.