'Bizarre censoring of Indian history': BJP slams Congress' call to drop chapter on RSS founder from Karnataka textbooks

A day after Congress announced that it would drop chapters on RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar as part of its school textbook revision drive, a row has erupted between BJP and the ruling party in Karnataka.

Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa on Thursday said that keeping the “interests of students” in mind, the department will revise school textbooks this year itself.

Notably, Congress had promised in its manifesto to undo the changes made by BJP when it was in power and had also vowed to scrap National Education Policy (NEP).

“The Chief Minister is personally interested in this, it was also clearly mentioned in our manifesto — of which I was the vice president — that we will revise the textbook in the interest of the students. The same thing will stand. As we are implementing the guarantees, in the same way in my department we will fulfill what he had said,” Bangarappa told PTI.

“There are reports in the media that we may not revise this year as the textbooks have already reached the students. No, we will do it this year itself by introducing whatever is necessary as a supplementary. There is such a system and it has been done several times in the past. We have already begun the work in this regard,” he added.

Specifically, Congress’ decision to drop chapters on the RSS founder has caused a stir among BJP members in the southern state.

Who was Keshav Baliram Hedgewar?

Born in a Telegu family in 1889, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar founded the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh in 1925.

By profession, Hedgewar was a physician who lived in Maharashtra. He was famously called ‘Doctor ji’ and was inspired by the heroic fights and bravery of Shivaji.

He was a freedom fighter whose participation in the Non-Cooperation Movement led to his incarceration for one year.

Congress vs BJP

Congress MLC BK Hari Prasad defended the party’s decision to remove chapters on Hedgewar.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar called the decision a “bizarre censoring of Indian history.” The Bhartiya Janata Party has also demanded an apology from the Karnataka government for trying to distort history.

Karnataka BJP MLA & former state minister CN Ashwath Narayan said, “These kinds of hasty decisions are not appreciated. Dr Hedgewar is a founder of national cultural building, nationalism…He was a medical practitioner with a good background. We should not ignore and disrespect such a towering personality. We should have the courtesy to respect him.”

BJP leader CT Ravi slammed Congress by saying “They (the Congress) can change syllabus… but they can’t change the history. Everyone knows about Sangh Parivaar’s patriotism… everywhere Sangh Parivaar’s ideology is getting stronger… that can’t be changed.”

“Our ideology is patriotism… does the Congress want to eliminate patriotism and want to make this ‘Mughalistaan’?” he said.