Hyderabad, Sept. 25 -- The Telangana State Board of Education has come under severe criticism for portraying the image of a terrorist holding a gun in one hand and the Quran in the other in the Social Studies textbook for Class 8 students.

The image is a part of a series of other images present in a chapter titled 'National Movement - the last phase 1919-1947'. While the remaining images portray Indian freedom fighters like Gandhi and Nehru as resisting the British empire's rule, this image stands out.

The image of the "terrorist" not only does not fit in with the rest of the chapter but also cunningly clubs Islam and terrorism as one and the same. This is made worse by the fact that the front of the study material reads "prepared as pe...