Two writers revoke permission to use their work in textbook; Ramachandrappa calls BC Nagesh’s claims a lie

This comes after primary and secondary minister BC Nagesh, on Monday, defended the changes made to some portions of Kannada and Social Science textbooks, including the dropping of Sara Abubacker and other progressive writers. In two separate letters, the duo have expressed their disappointment by calling the method of reviewing textbooks as ‘undemocratic’ and ‘unethical’.

“Anyone dropping the writings of people like AL Basavaraju, AN Murthy, P Lankesh and Sara Abubaker is not aware of Karnataka and its culture. Rohith Chakrathirtha who headed the textbook review committee, claims that he is not identifying writers by their caste. However, if you don’t be inclusive of caste in a country like India, at least 90% of people would be excluded, thus impacting the participatory model of democracy. Hence, I have withdrawn from giving permission to use my writings in the textbook,” Mahedeva said in his letter.

He also added that BJP has always interfered and is manipulating education and history since the days of former union human resources development minister Murali Manohar Joshi.

G Ramakrishna, another writer who revoked the permission to use his work, said that poisoning the minds of children is dangerous. “The way the school textbooks have been revamped is very unethical. Education is being targeted for bad politics and is instilling poison in the minds of children. Hence, I feel it is appropriate to exclude my writings from the textbooks,” he said in his letter.

Meanwhile, the former chairman of the textbook committee, Baraguru Ramachandrappa, also hit out at Nagesh, dismissing his claims of dropping the lessons on Kittur Rani Chennamma, Kuvempu, Mahatma Gandhi, Sangoli Rayanna, Kempegowda, Mysore Wodeyars and others in the previous textbook review committee.

“The minister has got his facts wrong. Kuvempu’s essays have part of 10th and 7th standard Kannada textbooks and have not been dropped. Kuvempu’s poem ‘Bharatha is my motherland’, was included early on in 7th standard itself to instill patriotism among the students. Moreover, lessons on Gandhi were included in 7th standard part 2 and 10th standard part 2 in the social science textbook. Lessons on Kittur Rani Chennamma and Sangoli Rayanna were also included in 6 standard part 2 and 10th standard part 1 textbooks. Even lessons on Mysore Wodeyar was part of 7th standard part 1 social science textbook,” he said.

He also slammed Nagesh for personally targeting him and added that, “I was not the only person in the previous year’s review committee. It included 27 committees involving 172 members who are academicians and teachers. We consulted all DIET principals and teacher associations and held multiple meetings before changing the content of the textbook.”

Hitting out at the state government for reviewing the textbooks against the guidelines of national curriculum framework, BJP leader AH Vishwanath said, “It is important to rope in DSCERT and NCERT which are integral part of reviewing the textbooks. A textbook has to be revamped based on the national curriculum framework and not according to their whims and fancies. Tipu Sulthan was a freedom fighter who never kneeled before the British. But who is Hegdewar? You cannot compare the two.”

The Campus Front of India, a student wing of PFI, also alleged that the committee headed by Rohith Chakrathirtha, mostly included Brahmins and the textbooks included the literature works of right wing philosophers and writers. “The state government has saffronised the 10th standard Kannada textbooks without fair representation of other communities. The committee headed by Chakrathirtha mostly consists of Brahmins and the essays in the textbooks have been written by right wing ideologues. We demand the resignation of education minister BC Nagesh in this regard,” members of CFI alleged.