7th Std Text Book : Controversy Over Secularism

There's a controversy going on in Kerala in relation to a text book
lesson in Malayalam for 7th std ,State syllabus:-
Let me narrate the content here:
Jeevan is taken to school for enroling in the 1st std by his parents
- Hide quoted text -of two different religions.The Head Master asks Jeevan's parents whichreligion is to be entered for the boy. Jeevan's parents request forleaving the column (related to religion and caste ) blank, whichprompts the HM to ask what would happen to the child as he grows upwithout religion/caste appended to his identity. The parents coollyreply that as he grows up he could chose any of the faiths or nofaith!This has become a cause for much ire being vent by the parties andstudents' unions in the rival camp ,on the Left Democratic Frontgovt.in Kerala. The opponents demand withdrawal of the lessonpromoting atheism and anti-religious mentality and even communism!!??Though the above text (lesson )appears to be the main focus in thecontroversy,much more text portions elsewhere from the current schooltexts are being brought under fire by the opposition parties andstudent unions. One thing that significantly eludes focus in the current politicalwarfare between the two fronts, ie; the LDF, led by the CPI(M) and theUDF( comprising Congress, Muslim League, Kerala Congress,etc )is thatCaste plus Religion plus most of the Superstitions like jaatakams,pujas and rituals are seen publicly glorified and practiced everywherein Kerala by leaders as well as cadres on both sides of the divide.Hence,the ideals of secularism that are sought to be promoted in youngminds, unfortunately , do not really match the realms of both thepublic and private spheres largely influenced by the left partieshere.At least as seen contradicted from the point of view of the dismaltrack record of many a left politician in promoting real secularism inprivate and public life, the present controversy on the text bookportions will not take us the society too far.
The contradictions resulting from promotion of unilateral learning ofideals by rote without a thought of accentuating them in real lives onthe one hand, and resisting even marginal struggles for social reform( the negative attitudes by and large displayed against intercastemarriages, struggles against casteism etc, for example) on the other,has come to the fore ,with the present controversy over the abovetext. In this aspect, perhaps this can signify a fair deal of selfreflectivity on the part of the 'big' people in the Left.