HDK seeks reconstitution of committee to study ancient Indian culture

Bengaluru: JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday demanded that the Centre reconstitute the 16-member expert committee set up to study the country’s culture for the past 12,000 years as he expressed strong reservation that it does not have South Indians who know the Dravidian culture. In a series of tweets, the former Karnataka chief minister also said the panel did not include any woman member.

Noting that the committee was fully packed with north Indians, he also expressed doubts about the objectiveness of the proposed study and alleged “it is full of those who appear to be having prejudices” over culture, history and heritage. “The Centre has constituted a 16-member expert committee to study Indian culture for the past 12,000 years. It is very unfortunate that the expert committee does not have any Kannadigas or South Indians who know the Dravidian culture.

The committee does not even have a woman member,” Kumaraswamy tweeted. Questioning whether it is possible to conduct a fair and unbiased study of Karnataka’s culture and heritage without having Kannadiga representatives in the committee, he asked, how can it be thought of studying the history and culture of the entire country by keeping South Indians out.

The expert committee has been formed by the Union Ministry of Culture for conducting a study on the origin and evolution of Indian culture dating back to around 12,000 years ago. The 16-member committee has among others K N Dikshit, Chairman, Indian Archaeological Society, New Delhi and former Joint Director General, Archaeological Survey of India as its members.

“There are doubts about the objectiveness of the proposed study as the committee is full of those who appear to be having prejudices over culture, history and heritage besides being fully occupied by north Indians. There is a dire need to reconstitute the study committee,” he added.

Kumaraswamy has recently came out against alleged Hindi imposition and discrimination against the people of other languages, especially from the south.

Terming ‘Hindi Diwas’ celebration as an “underhand method” to impose the language on people speaking other languages, he had on Monday demanded its cancellation. The JD(S) leader had recently asked as to how much more people of other languages including Kannada have to “sacrifice” in this country for not knowing Hindi.