Guwahati, Aug. 25: The activists of the All Tai Ahom Students’ Union (ATASU) today vented their ire by burning copies of the Sahitya Saurav, a textbook for the higher secondary course recommended by the Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (AHSEC), for allegedly distorting the history of the Ahoms.

Spokesman for the union, Lakhya Konwar, said the textbook contains an “objectionable” article written by Satyendra Nath Sarma, in which he has made defamatory remarks about Sukhapha, the father of the Ahoms.

“We simply cannot understand how the select committees of the council passed this book, which was introduced in the current session,” Konwar said.

Sahitya Saurav is a textbook on Assamese prose and poetry compiled and prescribed by the council for the two-year higher secondary course. The union has threatened to call a 12-hour Upper Assam bandh on August 30 if the state government does not withdraw the book from the curriculum.

Today’s demonstration was staged by the students’ union near Dighalipukhuri in the city. “We had given a 72-hour deadline to the government, which expired on August 23. We also tried to meet education minister Ripun Bora yesterday but he did not give us an appointment.If the government continues to ignore our demand, we will be left with no other option but to call an Upper Assam bandh on August 30,” Konwar threatened.

Konwar said this issue has hurt the sentiments of the Ahoms.