“Bulbuls entered a windowless prison cell and Veer Savarkar travelled on the wings of the bird to pass through solid walls and take a tour of the motherland…”
This was what a Class 8 textbook in Karnataka, revised by the previous BJP government, taught students. It was part of a chapter called ‘Kalavannu Geddavaru’ (Those Who Triumphed Over Time).
This addition by the BJP regime testified to allegation by educationists that a revised committee of textbooks headed by Hindutva activist Rohit Chakratirtha took the liberty to ‘saffronise’ education in Karnataka.
This was allegedly done on the direction of the Sangh Parivar, which was said to be steering the Basavaraj Bommai government that got ousted in elections in May this year.
The Congress, which had promised to “de-saffronise” education in Karnataka once it comes to power, however, now under the Siddaramaiah government has begun taking initiatives to fulfil it. While it was too late for the newly-elected (in May) government to completely change the textbooks for the current academic session, it plans a complete overhaul of the textbooks for the next academic session. The government has already formed several committees which will work on the revision of the textbooks.
This story was originally published in thefederal.com. Read the full story here