Bhubaneswar, September 22: The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), the main opposition force in Odisha, on Tuesday protested inside and outside the Odisha Assembly demanding resignation of School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond over errors in school textbooks.

The move led to the adjournment of the Assembly twice till 4 PM.

The party has resorted to an indefinite strike in front of the Odisha Assembly from today to press for its demand as the Monsoon Session of the State Assembly began today.

BJD MLAs joined hundreds of Biju Chhatra Janata Dal (BCJD) activists at the Mahatma Gandhi Marg seeking removal of Minister Gond from the Council of Ministers.

Also Read: Distribution of error-free school textbooks begins in Odisha; 45k books supplied on Day 1

Yesterday, BJD president and Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik during the BJD Legislature Party meeting told the party MLAS to raise textbook printing blunder issue in the State Assembly. He also demanded that concerned Minister should resign.“Students are the flagbearers of our Nation. If their education is lost then the country's future is lost. It is unfortunate that there are thousands of mistakes in the Government Text Books. It’s an irony that, neither is the Government fixing responsibility, nor are the students being given the corrected books. It’s no less than criminal negligence. Government will have to take responsibility for such a colossal blunder and the minister in charge, should resign,” Patnaik told party MLAs yesterday.

Meanwhile, the State Government on Monday started distributing error-free books across the State. On the first day on Monday, nearly 45,000 corrected textbooks were distributed in Khurda and Cuttack districts.

Also read:BJD to raise MMDR Act, textbook printing blunder issues in Odisha Assembly

For the context, the State Government came under sharp criticism in June this year after several newly-introduced textbooks for the 2026-27 academic session were found to contain hundreds of factual, grammatical and printing errors.

The controversy prompted the State Government to order a Crime Branch inquiry leading to the arrest of Manoj Kumar Padhy (57), former Director of Teacher Education & State Council of Educational Research and Training (TE & SCERT), for deliberately allowing error‑ridden content to be published and circulated among students of classes I–VIII, causing embarrassment to the Government.