Textbook revision row: Karnataka Congress to hold protest on June 9

Bengaluru: Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar said that their party will protest against the state government over the textbook revision issue on June 9.

Addressing presspersons Shivakumar said, “We are protesting on June 9 mainly against the syllabus issue which they (state government) are trying to change. Be it BR Ambedkar, Jainism or Buddhism, they want to remove their stature in textbooks.”

His remarks came after the Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai slammed the Congress for ‘politicking in everything.’

Karnataka state government had announced the dissolution of the state textbook review committee. The move comes amid a controversy over textbook revisions.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday said that the committee has been disbanded since its designated work had concluded. Bommai emphasized that the government is open to further revision in case of any objectionable content.

Several seers and prominent personalities had objected to a move by the state government to revise a chapter on the 12th-century reformist Basavanna.

Notably, a section of seers alleged that social reformer Basavanna’s teachings have been distorted in the revised Kannada and social science textbooks for Class X students. The seers also accused the review committee of insulting poet Kuvempu’s state anthem.

The state government issued a clarification that the distorted state anthem was not part of any textbook. The government ordered the cyber crime department to look into the allegations and take necessary actions in this regard.

A controversy surfaced last month over alleged erroneous revision in the textbooks in the state curricula. There were demands for the sacking of review committee chief Rohith Chakratirtha.

The committee headed by Chakrathirtha was set up to examine and revise the school textbooks.

(With ANI inputs)