Hundreds of people, including writers, social activists, farmers and politicians took out a protest march from Kuppali to Tirthahalli on Wednesday demanding the withdrawal of textbooks revised by Rohith Chakrathirtha’s committee
Former Education Minister and Congress leader Kimmane Ratnakar had given the call for the protest and he had termed it a non-political event. Lyricist and music director Hamsalekha, writer S.G.Siddaramaiah, Congress MLA T.D. Raje Gowda, Raitha Sangha leaders K.T.Gangadhar, H.R.Basavarajappa, Dalit Sangharsha Samiti leader Gurumurthy and hundreds of local people walked for about 18 km from Kavishaila, a memorial of Kuvempu at Kuppali, to Tirthahalli, where a public meeting was held.
Mr. Hamsalekha, addressing the gathering at Kuppali, said Basavanna and Kuvempu were great icons of Kannada. Any insult to these personalities would not be tolerated. “People of Karnataka should emulate Tamil Nadu people’s love for their language. If there is any attempt to question the supremacy of the Tamil language, people both in power and those in Opposition join hands. We Kannadigas should follow them”, he said.
Along the route hundreds of local people joined the march and raised slogans against the State Government and demanded the withdrawal of the textbooks.
