With the general election winds blowing strongly, CM Bommai struggles to find ground amidst textbook controversy
“History is people’s memory, and without a memory, man is demoted to the lower animals”
-Malcolm X
Karnataka: As more poets and activists continue to withdraw their works from textbooks amid the saffronisation charges against the recent Chakrathirtha committee, the ruling government is now dragged along the hot waters of questioning the memory of a great linguistic tradition.
What began as a routine syllabus update, now has evolved to strong saffronisation charges that may decide the route for the Bommai led ruling party in the upcoming general elections to be held next year.
What is the controversy?
The recently set up textbook revision committee head by writer Rohith Chakrathirtha was formed in 2020 to revise social studies textbooks from grades 6 to 10 and Kannada language textbooks for grade 1 to 10, following the Karnataka Brahmin Mahasabha’s complaints over chapters that ‘hurt the sentiment’ of the community.
However, following the revision, the BJP set up committee was reported to have dropped several chapters on freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, social reformer Narayana Guru and the works of modernist writers’ P Lankesh and Sarah Abubacker.
The controversy took flight to great heights when it was observed by Kannada thinkers and critics alike thought provoking mistakes in the chapters relating to Basavanna the widely admired father of Lingayatism in the class 9 textbooks.
Chapters on pioneers like Periyar, Swami Vivekananda and Ambedkar was also reported to be extirpated or logically distorted. Reports further suggested that the committee included the speech of RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar and several prominent thinkers such as Bannanje Govindacharya, Shatavadhani Ganesh and Manjeshwar Govinda Pai, suggesting a wind leading the academic front to the right.
A “saffronisation” that was initially limited to Saraswati Shishu Mandirs and Vidya Bharati schools today makes an unnerving attempt to influence public opinion and thought through ideological changes.
“Textbooks are bound to get politicised when someone who is not an expert in the education field is appointed the head of the (textbook review) committee. Textbooks come under the national curriculum and it must be free from political agenda, “commented former state education minister BJP MLC AH Vishwanath amid the controversial changes.
Reactions to the revision
The first wave of responses spurted strongly from students, progressive organisations and Dalit groups blaming the committee’s revision as a blanket move to “Brahminise” the academic ground. Solid response to the matter was illustrated by a member of the Karnataka Vidyarthi Sangathan, Manoj Azad.
“We are ready for a debate with him (Rohith Chakrathirtha). Of the seven members in committee, six are Brahmins. In a state where around 50% of teachers are women, there is not a single woman in the committee. No social justice has been served through the textbook revision. This attempt to saffronise textbooks will hamper the unity of this country” Azad added.
The Students’ Federation (SFI) of India commented that it will ensue orders to escalate the event and hold state wise protests in universities around the nation.
“This is not an isolated instance. Earlier, several times such changes have been brought. A few days back, the CBSE changed its syllabus, thus bringing down an attack on the secular and democratic framework of contents in the school syllabus. Celebrated nazms by Faiz Ahmad Faiz, a revolutionary poet who had always written for the people in distress, have been removed from the textbook. Before that, a story of Premchand was removed from the Class 12 textbook. And there are many more such instances. In fact, all political parties that have ruled so far, have been working to implement their agenda through academic textbooks.”, Sourav Ghosh of the All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) said regarding the issue
Dalit thinker and writer Devanur Mahadeva, philosopher Dr G Ramakrishna, poet Chandrashekar Talya are among the few litterateurs who requested the committee to drop their works from the revised portion.
Consent was also revoked by widely known literary figures Mudnakudu Chinnaswamy and Sarju Katkar from publishing their works in the class 5 and class 8 Kannada language textbooks.
Government Response
Addressing the sharp criticisms, Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh earlier this week stated that “We are not revising the PUC textbooks now”. He also added that the fresh revision of textbooks will be made only after public opinion, and that the new academic year will continue with elements from the initial syllabus.
In a move to ensure public support he added that the old syllabus, Chakrathirtha syllabus and the latest version will be circulated through the public domain.
“Let people compare all the three versions and decide who dropped what and added what. In case they find any errors, objections can be submitted to Karnataka Text Book Society,” Nagesh said.
Move to ensure vote bank?
What we must observe is the fact that the initial response of the committee to the criticism was not the most welcome.
B C Nagesh who previously quoted that “It is totally false. One hasn’t read or seen the book. Some anti-Hindu people are trying to stir controversy. We’ve not removed any chapters regarding Bhagat Singh, Narayana Guru, Basavanna and Vivekananda,” only stated a positive response after statements made from the Sanehalli-based Tarabalu mutt, Panditaradhya Shivacharya Swami.
The serious objections that revolved around Lingayat leader Basavanna and the factual discrepancies regarding him in the updated syllabus was a serious threat to the committee’s validity.
Amidst facing these charges Nagesh has now has dropped the idea of the committee headed by Rohith Chakrathirtha, and will reportedly publish textbooks head by the previous committee bearers Baraguru Ramachandrappa and G S Mudambadithaya.
“As the committee headed by Rohith Chakratirtha has been dissolved, the revision of textbooks will not be done and the same books will continue,” Nagesh added.
Karnataka that will go into general elections next year cannot afford to lose the support of the Lingayat community who make up a solid influence in 100 of the 224 Assembly seats.
Amidst the serious claims pointed towards the face of the government, the ruling party can only await the elections next year to evaluate the results of their actions. The state government that faced serious response from around the nation amidst the Hijab issue, now swims deeper into trouble with the textbook controversy.
Will Bommai lead ruling party sweep into making the promised changes, or was this just act 1 of the play, only time will tell.
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