Cartoon row: Ex-NCERT adviser's Pune office ransacked

A group of persons on Saturday ransacked the office of Prof Suhas Palshikar, who resigned as National Council Of Educational Research And Training adviser in the wake of the row over cartoon of B R Ambedkar in school text books.

The police said the persons involved in the incident had been invited by Palshikar for discussion in his office after they raised objections on the cartoon. They later damaged furniture in his office located in Pune University campus.

Palshikar, however, was unharmed, police added. A Republican Panther of India spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the cartoon amounted to an "insult" to the Dalit icon.

Police have detained three persons in connection with the incident.

Palshikar, a former head of Pune University's Department of Politics, had resigned after the uproar in Parliament over the issue, on which HRD Minister Kapil Sibal had tendered an apology.

While resigning from his NCERT post, Palshikar had described the ruckus in both Houses over the cartoon row as "unfortunate". He added that "space for debate in democracy is shrinking".

Palshikar was a member of the HRD ministry's Textbook Development Committee, which had approved the Class XI social science textbook that contained the cartoon.

Political scientist Yogendra Yadav, who was the chief adviser of the committee, has also resigned.