Congress won’t allow saffronised textbooks, says Rahul Gandhi

Despite Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s damage control measures, the Congress led by its former president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday kept up the ante against the BJP government over the revised school textbooks.

“The Congress will not allow textbooks that will be fatal for Karnataka’s diversity,” Rahul said in a series of tweets in Kannada.

This comes a day after Bommai said the government would revise portions on Lingayatism founder Basavanna while defending the revised textbooks. Also, Bommai said the textbook revision committee headed by Rohith Chakratirtha stands dissolved.

“People of Karnataka have always followed social justice and ideals of unity and humanity propounded by great beings,” Rahul said.

“The BJP is trying to use textbooks to teach children ideas that go against the life and identity of great beings such as BR Ambedkar, Buddha-Basavanna, Narayana Guru and Kuvempu,” he said, adding that the future of children was given to “ineligible hands”.

Rahul said the revised textbooks have excluded lessons on social justice, regionalism and gender equality. “The attempt to teach children saffonised lessons is an insult to India, which is the cradle of diversity,” he said, adding that Congress is committed to protect Kannada and its writers.

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Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah said dissolution of the Chakratirtha committee was not enough. “If a prejudiced chairman is removed, then how can we accept the textbook revised by his committee,” he asked. “CM has said that the text on Basavanna will be revised after hearing all the objections. Does this mean the revised textbook will be dropped for this academic year?”

The former CM pointed out that many senior writers had withdrawn their works from the revised textbooks. “How can these controversial revised textbooks be used in schools? The only solution to this confusion is to scrap these controversial revised textbooks, constitute a new committee and continue to use the old textbooks,” he said.

He also demanded action against Chakratirtha for “his sadistic comments on eminent authors, writers and intellectuals”.

Meanwhile, former education minister Kimmane Rathnakar of the Congress said the party will take out a protest march from poet Kuvempu’s birthplace Kuppalli in Shivamogga seeking withdrawal of revised textbooks. He said he would urge party leaders and writers to support the march. “Dates of the padayatra would be announced shortly,” he said.