Barged into my home, set cloth on fire, says Karnataka minister after Congress students' unit burns 'chaddis'

Education Minister BC Nagesh has alleged that members of the Congress’s student wing barged into his house and started a fire during a protest last week.

Chaddi politics in Karnataka has reached a new extreme. State Education Minister BC Nagesh has alleged that members of the Congress’s student wing barged into his house and started a fire during a protest last week.

National Students' Union of India (NSUI) activists lit a pair of khaki shorts on fire outside BC Nagesh’s home at Tiptur in Tumakuru district on Wednesday. This was done in protest against the alleged ‘saffronisation’ of school textbooks in the state.

Now, the Karnataka minister told India Today that the NSUI cadres allegedly “barged into my house and tried to set a cloth on fire when my son was alone in the residence”.

Hitting out at the Congress, the main Opposition party in the state, Nagesh said it is resorting to cheap public stunts like “chaddi burning” because it does not have any other issue to attack the government over.

READ | RSS sends Karnataka Congress underwear after Siddaramaiah threatens to burn 'chaddis'

Not just the Congress, but many authors, academics and Hindu seers had voiced their objection to recent changes made by the textbook review committee in school curriculum in Karnataka. The panel reportedly included a lesson on RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar's speech in school books while allegedly omitting chapters on freedom fighters, social reformers and literary figures.

While some pointed out the factual errors in the revised textbooks, others decried the edits as an attempt to “saffronise" education. Amidst a massive row on the issue, the textbook review committee was disbanded by the BJP government, some of the objectionable content was removed from the books.