Karnataka Congress protests against revised textbooks, demands CM's resignation
Bengaluru, Jun 9: The Karnataka Congress on Thursday staged a protest here urging the state government to withdraw the controversial revised school textbooks, and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, accusing his administration of distorting history and "saffronising" education as per RSS' directions.
Amid sloganeering by calling the state government "RSS' puppet", "anti people", "anti constitution", "corrupt", the protest was held in front of Mahatma Gandhi's statue at the premises of Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the state secretariat and legislature here.
They accused the government of insulting prominent religious, social and freedom movement figures like Basavanna, B R Ambedkar, Narayana Guru, Kuvempu, Bhagat Singh among others, and alleged that it was saffronising education and introducing 'Manuwaad' into it, also distorting history and spreading hatred among students.
The protest attended by several state Congress legislators and leaders, was led by state president D K Shivakumar, Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly Siddaramaiah, Leader of the Opposition in the Council B K Hariprasad, among others.
Accusing the government of trying to distort the state's and country's culture and history by bringing in "Nagpur Education Policy" and with an "unfit person" as the head of textbook review committee, Shivakumar said, "You (the government) have made us bow down our heads in shame by insulting state and national icons."
The Congress will continue its agitation on the issue, he said, "Withdraw this revised textbook, bring back the old ones, throw the revised one into the dustbin...they (BJP) tried to revise books according to their whims and fancies. Basavaraj Bommai should resign first, Bommai and BJP government should go first."
Siddaramaiah said the textbooks have been revised as per the directions of RSS by distorting history, with an aim to saffronise education, and it has to be withdrawn.
Pointing out that the government under pressure from literary figures and intellectuals had disbanded the textbook review committee, he said the textbooks revised by the disbanded committee has to also be withdrawn and should not be taught to students as history has been distorted in it.
The state government had last week "disbanded" the textbook review committee headed by Rohith Chakratirtha, stating its designated work was completed, and had said that the government is open for further revision if there are any objectionable contents.
Amid raging controversy over the textbook issue, state Primary and Secondary Education Minister B C Nagesh on Tuesday had said the government has decided to place before the people the contents of the original textbooks and those revised by the erstwhile Congress and the present BJP regimes.
The controversy had erupted with some organisations raising objections over the alleged replacing of a chapter on Bhagat Singh with an essay on a speech by RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar in the revised Kannada textbook for Class 10.
Subsequently, there were allegations about the omission of a chapter on Narayana Guru and several other prominent figures, national and state icons and their literary works.
There are also allegations of erroneous content on 12th century social reformer Basavanna and certain factual errors in the textbooks, including accusations of disrespecting 'Raashtra Kavi' (national poet) Kuvempu and distortion of the state anthem penned by him.
ಕೆಪಿಸಿಸಿ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷ @DKShivakumar, ವಿಧಾನ ಪರಿಷತ್ ವಿರೋಧ ಪಕ್ಷದ ನಾಯಕ @HariprasadBK2 ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಕಾಂಗ್ರೆಸ್ ಪಕ್ಷದ ಹಿರಿಯ ಮುಖಂಡರು, ಹಾಲಿ, ಮಾಜಿ ಶಾಸಕರು, ಪದಾಧಿಕಾರಿಗಳು ಸೇರಿದಂತೆ ಹಲವರು ಭಾಗವಹಿಸಿದ್ದರು.
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) June 9, 2022
2/2 pic.twitter.com/vqqjlX5Qmy
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Delhi Polls: BJP faces protest, placates MLA amid resentment over ticket distribution
New Delhi, Jan 12: Resentment surfaced in the BJP on Sunday over ticket distribution for Delhi Assembly polls, with a protest held outside its Delhi unit office and an angry outburst by the outgoing MLA from Karawal Nagar who was not included in the candidate list released a day earlier.
As MLA Mohan Singh Bisht threatened to revolt after being denied a ticket from Karawal Nagar, the party rushed to control the damage and announced his candidature from the Mustafabad seat this evening.
A group of protesters from Tughlakabad in South Delhi held a dharna at the gate of the Delhi BJP office, demanding a change in the candidate from the constituency.
"Vikram Bidhuri Tum Sangharsh Karo; Modi Se Bair Nahi, Rohtas Teri Khair Nahi," the protesters, including mostly youngsters, chanted as the party leaders tried to pacify them.
In the second list of BJP candidates for the polls declared on Saturday, Rohtas Bidhuri was fielded from the Tughlakabad seat. In 2020 Assembly polls, Vikram Bidhuri who is a relative of senior party leader Ramesh Bidhuri, lost to AAP's Sahiram by over 13,000 votes.
A similar protest was also held by some party workers outside the Delhi BJP office against Mehrauli candidate Gajainder Yadav after the announcement of the first list of candidates earlier this month.
Bisht, the senior-most BJP MLA in the outgoing Assembly elected five times from Karawal Nagar, openly expressed unhappiness over being denied the ticket to contest from his stronghold.
A senior party leader said he was pacified after a meeting with BJP chief JP Nadda.
Bisht, after getting the ticket from Mustafabad, expressed confidence that he would win the seat for the BJP.
"I met the national president and things were ironed out. I have assured that I will contest from Mustafabad and win the seat for the party," Bisht told PTI.
The MLA said he and the BJP had considerable support in Mustafabad and he has already attended two public meetings there.
The BJP won the Mustafabad seat, having a significant minority community presence, in the 2015 Assembly polls but lost it to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in 2020.
Earlier in the day, Bisht told PTI that the party's decision to replace him with Kapil Mishra was "wrong" and its consequences will be visible after voting on February 5.
"You have challenged the 'samaj' (his Uttarakhandi community), not Mohan Singh Bisht. The BJP will lose at least 8-10 seats because of this decision, including Karawal Nagar, Burari, Mustafabad and Gokalpuri," Bisht warned.
The BJP fielded Kapil Mishra, a Hindutva hardliner, from Karwal Nagar in North East Delhi, which was rocked by massive communal violence just after the 2020 Assembly polls.
Sources in the party claimed that there was also "deep resentment" among the Delhi BJP's Scheduled Castes Morcha leaders over being denied tickets from different constituencies including Madipur and Kondli.
A top Delhi BJP functionary stressed that there are many ticket aspirants, so it is natural for those who did not get selected to feel disappointed.
"The BJP is a disciplined party and its leaders understand this. Sooner or later, everyone will realise this and work for the victory of the party giving up their resentment," he said.
The elections to 70 Assembly seats in Delhi are scheduled on February 5. Results will be out after the counting of votes on February 8.
The BJP, out of power in Delhi since 1998, is making all-out efforts to return to power. In the 2015 and 2020 Assembly polls, the party was completely routed by the AAP, scraping through with just three and eight seats, respectively.
