BJP leader and former MLC Ashwath Narayan has dubbed the opposition to the textbooks revised by the committee headed by Rohith Chakrathirtha as the handiwork of former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his supporters.
Speaking to presspersons in Hassan on Wednesday, Mr.Ashwath Narayan said Mr. Siddaramaiah was creating confusion among the public by raising the issues one after the other even after the committee and the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education B.C.Nagesh clarified all the doubts raised. “Initially, they said the lessons on Narayana Guru and Kuvempu had been dropped. When the issue was clarified, they picked up another issue. Now some writers, in support of the Congress, had been writing to the Minister asking him to withdraw their lessons from the textbooks”, he alleged.
Further, he alleged it was Mr. Siddaramaiah who insulted Kuvempu by reducing the time for a rendition of the state song, written by Kuvempu. “No writer raised objection then. But, now they are making comments only to create confusion”, he said. Reacting to the allegations that Mr. Rohit Chakrathirtha insulted Kuvempu by distorting the state song, Mr. Narayan said he (Mr. Chakratirtha) had only forwarded the text he received from someone else. “Moreover a complaint was registered against him then. The matter had been resolved during the rule of Mr. Siddaramaiah himself”, he said.
‘IIT teacher’
When asked about the qualification of Mr. Rohit Chakratirtha to head the committee, the BJP leader said the committee chairman had the experience of teaching at an IIT. However, this statement was contrary to what Mr. Chakratirtha had said earlier. Mr. Narayan maintained that Mr. Chakratirtha had the qualifications to revise the textbooks as he had written many books.
BJP district president H.K.Suresh, district spokesperson H.M.Suresh Kumar and others were present in the press conference.
