Chennai: PMK founder leader Dr S Ramadoss on Monday said class nine Tamil text book contained an erroneous reference to the "first martyr" of Mahatma Gandhi's Satyagraha movement and urged the Tamil Nadu Government to correct it.
In a statement here, he said the textbook published by the Tamil Nadu Textbook Corporation for the third term for ninth standard says that "Thillayadi Valliyammai was the first martyr of Gandhi's Satyagraha movement" (in South Africa).
However, Swami Nagappan Padayache was the first martyr of Gandhi's Satyagraha and the Father of the Nation himself had said this in a letter to the South African Prime Minister on July 15, 1909 after Padayache's death, he claimed.
"It is the martyrdom of Nagappan that inspired several Satyagrahis like Thillayadi Valliyammai," he said and referred to Gandhi's speeches in Tamil Nadu that hailed the sacrifice of Nagappan.
Hence, the 'blooper' must be set right and the history of Nagappan must be included.
Also, the birth and death anniversaries of the first martyr must be observed by the government and a postal stamp should be released in his honour, he added.
