Karnataka: Throw revised syllabus into dustbin, says Siddaramaiah

Leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah tweeted on Sunday that the revised syllabus deserves to be thrown into the dustbin even as Karnataka Chief Minister disbanded the Textbook Revision Committee.

Bengaluru:Even as Karnataka Chief Minister disbanded the Textbook Revision Committee and tried to pull down the curtains on the controversy surrounding syllabus revision, leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah tweeted on Sunday that the revised syllabus deserves to be thrown into the dustbin.

"Education Minister B.C. Nagesh has revealed the truth. He says syllabus revision has been made as sentiments of Hindus were hurt. Now the minister should clarify who is a Hindu and who has hurt their sentiments," he tweeted. "Huge protests have broken out and protesters are Hindus. They do not belong to another religion. Is it not so Minister Nagesh?" Siddaramaiah questioned.

"The great personalities like Basavanna, Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Savithri Bai Phule, Narayana Guru, Kuvempu have been side-lined. The Chairman of the Revision Committee has looked down upon them while defending his revised syllabus. These allegations have been raised by Hindus," Siddaramaiah maintained.

He also questioned Minister Nagesh, "why scholars of backward and Dalit classes have not found representation at all in the Textbook Revision Committee. Don't they belong to the category of Hindus that Minister Nagesh is talking about? They were not given representation because of caste reasons." He also said that Basavanna and Dr B.R. Ambedkar were neglected in the revised syllabus and were insulted as they changed their religion. Narayana Guru, Kuvempu have been ignored as they highlighted drawbacks of Hindu religion, said Siddaramaiah.

"The Dalits and backward classes comprise large chunk of population in this country. Most of the children who come to government schools belong to these categories. The developments related to syllabus revision have pained them also," Siddaramaiah said. "Its not only majority Hindus, but 6.5 crore people of Karnataka are hurt by the revision of syllabus made by a person with perverted mindset. It should be thrown into the dustbin," he said.

The revision committee has revised the Kannada textbooks of class 1 to 10 and Social Science Textbooks of classes 6 to 10. The committee had also revised the History textbook of II PUC. The controversy started as the committee included the speech of RSS Founder K.B. Hedgewar and other right wingers' literary works in the syllabus. Religious seers have written letters to Chief Minister Bommai, alleging that Basavanna has been portrayed wrongly in the revised syllabus. (Agency inputs)