Amid the escalating controversy over the revision of textbooks and alleged disrespect to ‘Rashtrakavi’ Kuvempu, ‘Lingayat seers and leaders have objected to ‘wrong, twisted’ information on twelfth century social reformer Basavanna (Basaveshwara) in the class 9 social science textbook.
Sri Panditaradhya Shivacharya Swami of Sanehalli has written to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai demanding immediate withdrawal of the revised lesson. “If no action is taken immediately, launching an agitation across Karnataka will be inevitable,” he has warned in his letter written on May 31.
The seer has taken exception to ‘grave errors’ in textbooks. “It is condemnable that lessons have been revised in such a way as to create a wrong impression about Basavanna and the Lingayat religion propounded by him,” he has said.
“In the social science textbook of class 9, there is a lesson on Basavanna. The lesson has been revised by taking out a few lines and inserting new lines that twist facts. This is nothing but disgracing the pure and transparent life of Basavanna. It is an utter lie that vachanakaras reformed the Veerashaiva sect. It should have been ‘he propounded Lingayat religion’. There are several such mistakes in the revised textbook,” he has said.
‘Felt like I was hit with a stone’
In Hubballi, Sri Basava Jaya Mrutyunjaya Swami of Lingayat Panchamasali Peetha, Kudalasangama, expressed shock over the lines about Basavanna in the revised text. “On seeing the revised lines. I felt as if someone hit my chest with a stone,” he told mediapersons.
The swami said that it was wrong that the ideology in which Kuvempu and Basavanna believed is being disgraced. “The messages of those great personalities should be passed on to children, and nobody should try to twist what Basavanna’s main ideology was,” he said.
It is a well-known fact that Basavanna left home opposing inequality. But, I am deeply pained by what has been included in the text,” he said.
The swami asked Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to remember that his father S.R. Bommai was a great devotee of Basavanna and he (the CM) had the guidance of several seers.
“Please rectify the blunder before it reaches the children. If attempts are made to damage and disgrace the principles and ideology of Basavanna, then we will not keep quiet,” he warned.
The swami asked the Chief Minister to recall the life of father and take steps to spread the work on Basavanna. “Your silence will pain Basava devotees,” he said.
Withdraw textbook
In Bidar, Rashtriya Basava Dal president Basavaraj Dhannur demanded that the Karnataka Government immediately withdraw the revised textbook of social science. Mr. Dhannur has said that the lesson on Basavanna had been revised indiscriminately and wrong information had been inserted.
“The concept of ishtalinga was given by Basavanna. Before him, the concept was non-existent. He did not get ‘Linga Deekshe’ from anyone. Instead, he established Lingayat religion. But the textbook mentions that Basavanna reformed the Veerashaiva sect, which is totally wrong,” he has said adding that, at the outset, it looks like the lesson had been deliberately twisted to give a wrong message to children. “The government should immediately stop it,” he has said.
