Celebrities and controversies are pretty much synonymous, and Akshay Kumar, a star of the Bollywood clan, has lately been embroiled in a handful of them. From suggesting that people should die if they can’t exercise to being paired with heroines half his age, the actor somehow lands in trouble.
This time, Akshay Kumar sparked yet another public outcry when he said that children’s history books are brimming with material about “invaders”, but that they are lacking knowledge about Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan.
According to ANI, during one of the media interactions, Kumar, who portrays the 26-year-old King in the film Samrat Prithviraj, remarked that Prithviraj is only mentioned in a few lines in our history books.
Unfortunately, our history textbooks only have 2-3 lines about Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan, but a lot has been mentioned about the invaders. There is hardly anything mentioned about our culture and our Maharajas. Nobody is there to write about it in our history books. I would like to appeal to the Education Minister to look into this matter and see if we can balance it. We should know about the Mughals but know about our kings also. They were great too.
-Akshay Kumar
Checkout the actor’s interview here:
#WATCH | Nobody is there to write about it in our history books. I would like to appeal to the Education Minister to look into this matter and see if we can balance it. We should know about Mughals but know about our kings also, they were great too: Actor Akshay Kumar to ANI pic.twitter.com/05WKtQ4dNw
— ANI (@ANI) June 1, 2022
Unsurprisingly, his viewpoint on India’s historical details in textbooks sparked discussion on Twitter. And here’s what some of the users had to say about it.
There are two entire chapters about Prithviraj Chauhan in NCERT Class 7 history textbook. Lekin Canada Kumar ko propaganda se fursat mile tab wo padhega na.
— Musab Qazi (@musab1) June 1, 2022
PS: Mughals were our kings too pic.twitter.com/1FycTI3kJp
If Akshay Kumar had attended school classes, if he had focussed on studies instead of on his martial art training, he would have learnt about every phase of history from the early stone age to Harrappan to ancient, medieval to modern Indian history. He never attended classes.
— Shivam (@ShivamJ24) June 1, 2022
Dear @akshaykumar/@smitaprakash
— Abhishek G. Bhaya अभिषेक অভিষেক ابھیشک 加冕礼 (@abhishekbhaya) June 1, 2022
It’s clear that u never bothered to read ur #History books. I was in school (CBSE) in 80s/90s & had read about all the major Indian kingdoms/dynasties. Plz at least check the History books of your kids. Wonder if @mrsfunnybones has a view on this? https://t.co/BkO5TzF5bG
Truth about the NCERT talking ONLY about the mughals.
— Aquib🪶 (@Aquib2020) June 1, 2022
Out of 75 only 2 chapters are about the so-called “invaders”. Akshay is a very opportunistic person. BTW was he talking about Textbooks in Canada?🇨🇦https://t.co/MXiXyLWjan
Dear Canadian @akshaykumar .
— The Good , The Bad & The Ugly . (@suja_saikia) June 1, 2022
Please go through the following to know what is being taught through #NCERT books from class V upto class XII.
Pls don’t speak on a subject you don’t know and let people mock you on your ‘Gyan’.
Just promote your movie. Bas.https://t.co/uj3twM68QZ
Can this guy name 5 kings that he wants to see in history text books 🙄?
— Smile😊🌻 (@anjutalwar) June 2, 2022
Has Akshay Kumar studied anything? Atleast apne bacchon ke text book nikhal ke dekho. Pritviraj and sanyogita and chand bardai story is there in every textbook
— Honey George (@honeygeorge74) June 1, 2022
Who wants Akshay’s opinion on education or rituals ? He should stick to what he is good at films & marshal arts.
— Padmaja 🇮🇳 (@prettypadmaja) June 1, 2022
We want factual history not selective glorification.
Selling Temple offerings is an occupation for pilgrim towns, silly to say do not waste money on offerings.
Had you had focused on your studies @akshaykumar you would k ow that kids are being taught about great Indian kings right from very early schooling. I am listing here below all the great Indian kings, that I studied about by the time I was in 8th standard!
— Rajendra Kumbhat (@Enraged_Indian) June 1, 2022
1/2
And I wonder which education system he is talking about. I studied about Pithviraj Chauhan in Class 4 first. Much before we had history as a separate subject. These ppl can say anything bizzare and get away with it just because —–
— SujataTrivediBagchi (@RumTrivedi) June 1, 2022
On the professional front, Akshay Kumar plays the courageous Prithviraj Chauhan in the period drama Samrat Prithviraj. The actor will play the legendary warrior who fought Muhammad of Ghor valiantly. Sanyogita, the beloved of King Prithviraj Chauhan, is played by Manushi Chhillar. The film will be released in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu on June 3.