Kendrapada (Orissa): Hundreds of students and teachers in Orissa's Kendrapada district on Saturday burnt copies of a guidebook for alleged derogatory remarks about freedom fighter Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.

The book, published by Malhotra Book Depot (MBD) of Cuttack, some 25 km from state capital Bhubaneswar, is a guide for students preparing for the Class VII examination conducted by Orissa's Board of Secondary Education, a police official told IANS.

The latest edition of the book, published in Oriya, has described Netaji as Bhanda Jatiyabadi Neta (fake nationalist leader).

Hundreds of students of Netaji Model School at Kendrapada town also blocked town's main road for one hour resulting in a traffic jam, he said.

Following the protest, most bookshops in the town, 150 km from Bhubaneswar, downed their shutters while some bookshop owners announced they would not sell the book any more.

Gayadhar Dhal, secretary of the district Krusaka Sabha, a body of farmers, said he had written to the president, the prime minister, the state governor and the chief minister seeking action against the publisher.

"We have also lodged a complaint with the police against the publisher," he said.

"We have lodged a complaint and are investigating the matter," said Santanu Das, the officer in charge of the Kendrapada police station.

Bose, born at Oriya Bazar in Cuttack in 1897, was one of the most influential and charismatic leaders of India's freedom movement. IANS