Social activists and parents have demanded the withdrawal of a textbook extolling Nazism and Adolf Hitler from schools in India's western Gujarat state.
The book, part of the state government curriculum for grade 10, is read by tens of thousands of students every year. It was not clear when the book was first published and distributed.
"Hitler lent dignity and prestige to the German government in a short time by establishing a strong administrative set-up," reads the social studies textbook that mentions the holocaust only in passing and has a subtitle reading "Internal Achievements of Nazism".
"He (Hitler) adopted a new economic policy and brought prosperity to Germany. He made untiring efforts to make Germany self-reliant within one decade," the book reads.
Civil rights workers have voiced outrage.
"All sensible people, who are concerned with the future of their young wards, should come together to ensure children are not made to regard Hitler as their hero," Cedric Prakash of the Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace in Ahmedabad, the state's main city, said on Thursday.
The US State Department in it latest report on religious freedom has slammed the condoning of Nazism in Gujarat's textbooks as well as a reference to Hitler's "charismatic personality".
"I certainly would not want my son to learn such inaccuracies. It should be immediately changed," said Kalpana Kamdar, mother of a school pupil.
A Gujarat education department official said authorities were reviewing the controversial references to Hitler in the book and would soon decide whether to change them.
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