Somnath slams Mamata for exclusion of Russian revolution from syllabus

Calcutta, Apr 06 (PTI): Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee on Friday slammed the West Bengal government for the reported omission of the Russian revolution, Marx and Engels in the history syllabus of the Higher Secondary Council and wondered who was advising Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.         "I have no idea who are advising the chief minister for radically overhauling the history syllabus excluding chapters of world history, but it is definitely a wrong and controversial decision," Chatterjee said. The veteran Marxist said "if students are to read Marx, Engels and about the Russian revolution, they are not supposed to turn into Communists.         "I fail to understand why such a historic event and great masters of history will be excluded in the curriculum. This is not desirable and is unnecessary and unfortunate," he said. According to reports, the school syllabus for history is likely to be overhauled with the Russian revolution, Marx and Engels to be excluded.