By Muslim Mirror Desk
The BJP government in Karnataka has removed a chapter on Tipu Sultan, who was martyred while fighting British colonial forces and was called ‘Tiger of Mysore,’ from Class 7 textbook.
“The chapter on Tipu Sultan for Class 7 has been dropped to reduce the syllabus by 30 per cent for this academic year due to delay in reopening of schools due to no let-up in coronavirus spread,” Karnataka Text Book Society Director Madde Gowda told reporters.
The society, however, retained the chapter on the ‘Tiger of Mysore’ for Classes 6 and 10.
Meanwhile, several academicians and politicians have protested against removal of the lesson. Retired history professor from Hampi University TR Chandrashekhar said,
“It is obvious that the government used the Covid-19 crisis as an alibi to remove the chapter that it wanted to get rid of. What it could not achieve in normal times, the BJP government did in the time of distress”.
Opposition Congress accused the BJP government of playing “communal politics” in education too. “Any attempt to distort history by changing the school syllabus is deplorable. We will never allow it to happen” Karnataka’s Congress president DK Shivkumar said.
On an important note, the BJP government had opposed the celebration of Tipu Jayanti in Karnataka.
Alongside lessons on Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, which will now be taught through assignments instead, Vijayanagara and Rashtrakuta dynasties and the Indian Constitution have also been truncated. The department of state educational research and training (DSERT) has said that the syllabus changes were applicable to the current academic year only.
This is regressive and not entirely surprising. Their only agenda is communal disharmony and marginalization of Muslims. Its an obsession that speaks volumes. They will be thrown out of office like every other authoritarian government in the past.