We'll teach kids 'real' history, says Karnataka Education Minister Nagesh as saffronisation row grows

Breaking his silence on the controversial revision of school textbooks, Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh has claimed that the state government was trying to teach students the “real” history.

Addressing a news conference here on Monday, he denied allegations of saffronising education and suggested that “some so-called intellectuals and politicians are trying to play caste politics without seeing the revised textbooks.”

He said the textbooks revised by the previous committee headed by Prof Baragur Ramachandrappa were “filled with lies and misinformation”. “We are trying to teach the truth. We don’t believe in teaching half-truths, so we have revised the textbooks,” he stated.

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Justifying the removal of some content on Tipu Sultan, Nagesh said: “Why wasn’t there enough information about the Wadiyar dynasty? And what was the need to tell more about Tipu Sultan? Yes we cut down the content and retained what was necessary.”

Nagesh confirmed that a speech by RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar has been included in the textbook but claimed that the lesson has “nothing about the writer, the RSS or any political party”.

“We have included only the speech which talks about role models,” he added.

On the removal of Bhagat Singh and Narayana Guru from textbooks, Nagesh said a lesson on Bhagat Singh written by G Ramakrishna was replaced with the one written by Chakravarty Sulibele. “Those creating a fuss about the writer should know that Ramakrishna was identified with the communist ideology. When you can include a chapter written by him, why not one by Sulibele?”

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On Narayana Guru, he said that the chapter on him was moved from history to Kannada because the history textbook was “overburdened”. “People making a controversy must wait for a hard copy of the textbook. If any correction is needed, we will definitely do it,” he added.

Nagesh questioned the inclusion of Jawaharlal Nehru’s letters to Indira Gandhi in a textbook by the Baragur committee. “Why should our children study letters written by a father to his daughter? What were they trying to teach,” he said.

On the removal of the word ‘Hindu’ from Hindu Maha Sagara, Nagesh said: “Even in Kannada, they tried to write it as ‘Indian Ocean’. Wherever there is Matrubhoomi (motherland), they removed the word Matru. They even removed a poem by Kayyar Kinhanna Rai which talks about the Indian flag.”