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been revised as per the directions of RSS by distorting history, with an aim to saffronise education, and it has to be withdrawn.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had disbanded the textbook review committee, he said the textbooks revised by the disbanded committee has to also be withdrawn and should not be taught to students as history has been distorted in it.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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Notices issued against 24 people for protesting against Waqf Bill by wearing black badges in UP
Muzaffarnagar (UP) (PTI): Authorities in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district have issued notices against 24 people for protesting against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 by wearing black badges and asked them to furnish bonds of Rs 2 lakh each.
Superintendent of Police (City) Satyanarayan Prajapat on Saturday told reporters that notices were served to 24 persons in this connection, and added that police have identified more people on the basis of CCTV footage.
The notices were issued by City Magistrate Vikas Kashyap on the police report, asking them to furnish bonds of Rs two lakh each after appearing before the court on April 16. These people were found protesting against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and wearing black badges on their arms during last Friday prayers of Ramzan in different mosques here on March 28.
The people who got notices issued against them said they wore black badges only to show protest in a democratic way.
Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju tabled the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, asserting that the legislation is not against Muslims or intended to hurt their religious feelings, but seeks to improve the functioning of Waqf properties, address complexities, ensure transparency and introduce technology-driven management.
The Lok Sabha passed the Bill by a 288-232 vote in the early hours of Thursday, after nearly 12 hours of debate, and the Rajya Sabha gave its nod to the legislation following an over 13-hour debate.
The Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha with 128 members voting in favour and 95 opposing it.
