In a series of tweets, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Saturday slammed the BJP government in Karnataka for the textbook controversy and said that the ‘saffronisation’ of textbooks is an insult to India’s diversity. A controversy erupted in Karnataka over the alleged inclusion of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology in school textbooks. Some Kannada writers, including professor S G Siddaramaiah and Devnoor Mahadev, have sought the withdrawal of their works from the textbooks reportedly in protest against the inclusion of a speech by RSS founder K B Hedgewar and exclusion of works of social reformers like Narayan Guru, among others. He said, “Karnataka has always followed the path of unity, social justice and humanity. The BJP, however, has gone out of its way to teach the students against the principles of Narayan Guru, B R Ambedkar, Buddha-Basavanna, Kuvempu and other icons.” He also added that the textbooks were saffronised by excluding the authors whose works are based on social justice, regionalism and gender equality. Meanwhile, state Congress leader Siddaramaiah also hit out at the BJP government, saying that the students are suffering because of an “ineligible textbook revision committee chairman (Rohith Chakrathirtha) and the controversies surrounding him. “It is the duty of the chief minister to clarify the doubts raised in the minds of the people of Karnataka. Instead, he is trying to confuse them more. Which textbook will be used to teach the students in the current academic year? Old textbook or the revised one? The 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?” asked Siddaramaiah. He also suggested that the only solution to this “confusion” is to scrap the controversial revised textbook, “constitute a new committee and continue to use the old textbook”. Siddaramiah also demanded a legal action against Chakrathirtha for his comments on authors and writers and for “insulting” the icons of Karnataka.
