Residents of Shravanabelgola in Channarayapatna taluk took out a protest march on Tuesday demanding the withdrawal of textbooks revised by the committee headed by Rohith Chakrathirtha.
Hundreds of people participated in the march that began at Deve Gowda Circle and concluded at Ganesha Pandal in the town.
Along the march they raised slogans against the State Government and Mr. Rohith Chakrathirtha. They carried posters of Kuvempu and Kannada flags. Shravanabelgola unit of Vishwamanava Krantikari Mahakavi Kuvempu Horata Samiti had organised the event.
Sudhir Kumar Murolli, a Congress leader, addressing the gathering, said that the State Government had no moral right to continue the textbooks, revised by the Rohith Chakrathirtha committee, even after admitting to the mistakes. “The government is distributing one copy of corrections to each school. Eventually, the students will not get those copies and they continue to study the incorrect facts in the textbooks”, he said.
He also opined that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai should delete Basavaraj from his name as, under his rule, the textbook committee had insulted Basavanna. “The CM has lost the moral right to call himself Basavaraj”, he said.
Jnanaprakash Swamiji of Urilinga Peddi Mutt, addressing the gathering, opined that a few seers should stage a dharna in front of Education Minister B.C.Nagesh’s residence. “We should not end the protest until the textbooks are withdrawn.
Jagadish Gowda, an organiser of the protest, said the textbook revising committee had insulted many sections of society. The committee had removed the chapter on the origin of religions and with that, it insulted Jainism and other religions, he added.
