The BJP-led government in Karnataka has come under pressure amid a row over revision of certain textbooks, as some noted authors and activists have asked the government to drop their works from the textbooks. Noted Dalit activist and litterateur Devanur Mahadeva and thinker Dr G Ramakrishna have asked the state Education Ministry to drop chapters carrying their works, following the row over omissions and inclusion of certain lessons by the Textbook Revision Committee.
In his letter addressed to the state government, Devanur Mahadeva said that he does not want his story to appear in the Kannada textbook, as was planned by the committee. "There is a controversy regarding textbook revision. It is said that one of my works is being used as a text for the Class 10 Kannada book. The PDF on inclusions and deletions are being changed every minute. I am happier if my write-up is not used in the textbook. If it is included, it will not have my consent," he stated.
Devanur Mahadeva had also said that he is withdrawing the permission given for publication earlier. "Those who have dropped the lessons authored by L Basavaraju, AN Murthy Rao, P Lankesh and Sara Aboobakar do not know the culture of Karnataka," he said. He further said that while the current head of the textbook committee — Rohit Chakrathirtha — has said that caste of the authors was not a deciding factor in the inclusion of chapters, in a country like India, 90% of the people tend to be excluded. “This is eroding the concept of a participatory democracy in Karnataka,” Mahadeva said.
He also pointed out that this had happened earlier when BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi was the Union Minister of Human Resource Development between 1998 and 2004. The BJP, steeped in the ideology of the RSS, interferes first with education and history whenever it is in power, Mahadeva wrote. “Once the textbooks are published and the [lessons’] shortcomings are seen, I would like to be involved in programmes that aim to provide alternative views and lessons for students, based on constitutional principles,” he wrote.
In a separate statement, Dr G Ramakrishna called it an “intellectual travesty” that children are “being fed poison through textbooks”.
The Revision Committee has revised the Kannada language textbooks of Class 1 to 10 and Social Science textbooks of Class 6 to 10. The Education Ministry has also asked to review the PUC-II History textbook. Education Minister BC Nagesh has already stated that there would be no further revision of textbooks as they are already being published.
A row erupted after a few groups alleged that the textbook committee had added a chapter on RSS founder Hegdewar’s speech, in the place of a chapter on Bhagat Singh. The move had drawn widespread flak. However, BC Nagesh later clarified that while Hegdewar’s speech was going to be added, the Bhagat Singh chapter would remain.