Karnataka govt must roll back ‘saffronised’ textbooks or protests won’t stop: Congress’s DK Shivkumar

The Karnataka Congress unit is protesting in the Vidhan Soudha against the alleged ‘saffronisation’ of textbooks in the state. State Congress chief DK Shivkumar said that the protest would continue to grow till the government rolled back the revised textbooks.

Karnataka Congress chief DK Shivkumar, while protesting at Vidhan Soudha against the alleged ‘saffronisation’ of textbooks in the state, said that their protests would continue till the government rolled back the revised textbooks.

“The government has destroyed education here in the state. They have completely saffronized the textbooks. They must roll back the revised textbooks. We will continue our protest and won't stop here,” said DK Shivkumar.

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah, who also participated in the protest, sparked a controversy by comparing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders to dogs.

“When I talk individually, there are some 25 people who come at me like barking dogs, like Mudhol dogs. Our people don't talk, and that's why we have distributed books from our office," said Congress leader Siddaramiah.

The Karnataka government, in 2020, set up a textbook revision committee. The committee, headed by writer Rohith Chakrathirtha, recently revised social science textbooks from Classes 6 to 10 and Kannada language textbooks from Classes 1 to 10.

Reports said that chapters on freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, Lingayat social reformer Basavanna, Dravidian movement pioneer Periyar, reformers Narayana Guru and Swami Vivekananda were allegedly removed from the syllabus or severely distorted.

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