Chakrathirta out of textbook committee? Signals political upheaval

Bengaluru: The controversial Chairman of the State school Textbook Revision Committee (TRC) Rohith Chakrathirtha is likely to be relieved of his responsibilities. This was indicated by BC Nagesh, Education Minister. It may be recalled that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, a couple of days ago, announced dissolution of the committee.

This is the first time in the history of the Karnataka education department that such political overtones have been aired. But looking at the series of developments that followed the attempts to change the content in the textbooks, this was creating an embarrassing situation for the BJP. "The changes in the content were nothing but an attempt to saffronise the education and subverting the learning process," was the popular notion that was created by the people who opposed the changes in the textbooks. Many writers who had contributed lessons for the textbooks including Devanuru Mahadeva, BaraguruRamachandrappa and Bolwar Mohammad Kunhi have taken the government for a task. They had even written to BC Nagesh not to publish their lessons in the textbooks. What was more disturbing was that the party was getting trolled due to the changes suggested by the committee. This confusion has led to the fact that textbooks were not ready for delivery to the students at the middle school and high school levels. Such sweeping changes were directed to change the perception of the idea of India in the minds of the students of the impressionable age, the intellectuals argued.

On 3 June, the Chief Minister had discharged the responsibilities of the committee till the government had taken look at the changes through an expert review committee. He had clarified that the committee was not discharged owing to any political pressures.

However, things might not end there, the critics of the textbook review committee are after the blood of Chakrathirtha for allegedly undermining the importance of the Kannada flag, and national laureates like KV Puttappa (Kuvempu) reformer saint Narayana Guru and author of the Indian Constitution Dr BR Ambekar.

Education experts have urged the government to supply the textbooks cleared by the previous textbook committee headed by BaraguruRamachandrappa, as the new textbooks are yet to reach the schools, education expert Sanath Kumar Belagali has stated.

But the people in the inner circles of the BJP have expressed serious doubts that the intellectuals and those who opposed the textbook reformation just because Rohith Chakrathirta was a right-winger thinker and writer.

The Congress has written to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to ask Education Minister BC Nagesh to resign as he had allowed 'improprieties' in forming the new syllabus for the schools. The letter has been written by opposition leader S Siddaramiah.