Rajyotsava lesson dropped from Kannada textbook?

The controversy over textbook revision doesn’t seem to be ending. Two days after Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai tried to end the row, Rohith Chakratirtha, the head of the now-dissolved textbook revision committee, is accused of dropping the lesson on Kannada Rajyotsava from the class 6 Kannada language textbook.

Social media posts suggested that the committee dropped a lesson on Bhuvaneshwari procession (Taayi Bhuvaneshwari Meravanige) from the class 6 Kannada textbook.

“Chapter of the Sirigannada first language textbooks for class 6 had the Meravanige, as per the syllabus set by the previous committee. The lesson that explained the Kannada Rajyotsava has been dropped now,” a Kannada activist alleged.

That’s not all. A lesson on the Siddaroodha Mutt annual festival has replaced the Kannada Rajyotsava lesson. “They even removed the picture of goddess Bhuvaneshwari and added a saffron flag,” another activist said.

The textbook revision committee is said to have attributed a song written by Chi Udayashankar to R N Jayagopal. Aadisi Nodu Beelisi Nodu, a song used in the Kannada film Kasturi Nivasa and written by Udayashankar, has been attributed to Jayagopal in the textbook, it alleged.