Sahithya parishat raises objections to revised textbooks

Bengaluru

Hopping on the bandwagon of those protesting against the revision of school textbooks by the Rohith Chakrathirtha-led committee, the Bengaluru unit of the Kannada Sahithya Parishat has raised objections to the neglect of icons from Karnataka in the revision process.

In a release, unit president N. Prakash Murthy said that lessons on State icons of the Bhakti and Sufi movements, such as Akka Mahadevi, Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa, and Santa Shishunala Sharif had been removed, while national icons had been given prominence.

Mr. Murthy further said that it was sad that a person who had “insulted” the naada geethe (State anthem) had headed the committee that revised textbooks. He demanded that the revisions be dropped and the old textbooks retained.

Meanwhile, the Karnataka unit of the Congress staged a protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at the Secretariat in Bengaluru on Thursday, urging the State government to withdraw the revised textbooks.

KPCC president D.K. Shivakumar, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah, Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Council B.K. Hariprasad, and party legislators and supporters participated in the protest.

Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the revised textbooks had hurt the sentiments of some communities. He accused the revision committee, headed by Mr. Chakrathirtha, of “insulting” several Kannada poets by wrongly interpreting facts. Protests were held by other district units of the party as well.