Nagaon, March 7: Congress legislator and education minister Gautam Bora is facing a social and political boycott by the managing committee of Batadrava Than, which stripped him of his life membership from the religious institution yesterday for his department’s failure to correct an error on Srimanta Sankardev in school textbooks.

The committee alleged that in the social science textbooks of Class IV, published under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, the birthplace of Sankardev is written as Patekibari in Morigaon district. It believes that the 15th century saint was born in Bordowa in Nagaon district.

The textbook was first published in 2002. When the education department repeated the mistake, the committee moved the high court seeking justice.

The education minister, however, assured the management committee in August 2010 that he would correct the mistake in the next edition.

“We were seriously waiting for the correction in the textbook, but the education department carried on with the same mistake in its latest print,” said a managing committee general secretary, Pradip Chandra Deva Mahanta, in his lecture in today’s public rally.

The education department commissioner, A.B. Md Eunus, in his special order (C&s/Per/eduele/WMD-1/2/2009-10/168) issued today said, “Relevant parts of the lesson numbers 18 and 19 of the book (Amar Paribesh, 2nd part social science for Class IV) shall not be taught in the schools.”

In the order, director of elementary education was asked to circulate the content to all concerned.

The committee, however, refused to be satisfied with the development.

“If the content could not be corrected, the minister should not have promised that,” said Batadrava Naruwa satra satradhikar (head priest) Deva Nanda Goswami.

Goswami today presided over the general meeting in the bank of Santijan where thousands of members participated.

The executive committee on Sunday cancelled the life membership of the local legislator and decided to highlight the matter in today’s public meeting.

The committee today proposed to boycott the education minister both socially and politically and also imposed restrictions on his meeting the members personally.

“We are continuing the democratic struggle against the injustice. Again, we will write to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh demanding to drop Bora from getting party ticket in the next Assembly elections.

Bora’s close associates, however, considers this as a mere political development.

“The issue is sub-judice. The correction is impossible till the revision is made after the removal of the controversy,” the source said.