Never seen such irresponsible government: DKS on Karnataka's textbook changes

BENGALURU: KPCC president DK Shivakumar on Sunday expressed displeasure over the alleged deletion of information on Dr BR Ambedkar and other important personalities in state textbooks. “I have never seen any state government behave so irresponsibly. In the Constitution, all religions, castes, customs and cultures are given equal rights. The CM’s order on textbooks is confusing,” he said.

Many seers from Muruga Mutt, Siddaganga Mutt, Panchamasali Mutt, Adi Chunchanagiri Mutt and many more have raised their voice against changes in textbooks and are fighting for justice, he said. “Writers and thinkers too have taken to the streets against the government’s move and I congratulate them. Continue your fight. We will be with you,” he added.

Channanna Valikar’s poem has been removed from the Class 6 Kannada textbook. The social science textbook of Class 7 talks about social reformers, which also contains information about Ambedkar. But the earlier textbook had details of Ambedkar’s parents, his place of birth and others that have been removed. References to Ambedkar’s struggles, such as the Mahad Satyagraha and Kalaram Temple entry movements, are not part of textbooks anymore, he pointed out.

“The government is responsible for errors in textbooks. It has dropped or twisted ideas of many leaders, including Basavanna and Kuvempu,” he alleged.