Kolkata, Jul 16 (PTI) West Bengal Education Minister Bratya Basu on Friday alleged that the BJP was trying to "saffronise education" by omitting chapters on secularism in states where the party is in power.

Basu, who was addressing a press conference, was requested to comment on the Uttar Pradesh government's move to exclude a story by Rabindranath Tagore from school curriculum.

"The BJP is trying to saffronise education. If they have omitted Tagore's story from syllabus, it shows their regressive mindset. Tagore is a secular personality as is evident from his writings.

"Obviously the BJP is not comfortable with such ideologies. Hence they keep removing works of Tagore, Dr Radhakrishnan from school curriculum," Basu said.

He claimed that the BJP peddles mythology as history in textbooks of Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.

In sharp contrast, the syllabus in West Bengal schools is all-inclusive as it speaks of our pluralistic values, our international outlook, nationalism and real and actual history, the minister added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)