Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister, Devendra Fadnavis, recently criticized former ally Uddhav Thackeray, the leader of Shiv Sena (UBT), for his silence regarding the removal of Savarkar and Hedgewar from the school syllabus in Karnataka by the Congress party. Fadnavis, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), questioned Thackeray’s ideological integrity and his alliance with the Congress party, emphasizing that compromising on principles for the sake of power is unacceptable.
Fadnavis highlighted that while names may be erased from books, the contributions of those who fought for the country’s freedom cannot be erased from people’s hearts. He directed his questions to Uddhav Thackeray urging him to express his opinion on the Congress party’s appeasement of minority communities for the sake of political power and whether he would accept the insult to the revered freedom fighter Savarkar or simply prioritize his position in power.
The Deputy Chief Minister further pressed Thackeray, asking for his explicit stance on the Congress government’s decision to remove Savarkar’s name from the school curriculum and their support for conversion. Fadnavis questioned whether Thackeray’s compromise with the Congress party was solely motivated by the pursuit of power.
In line with its electoral promises, the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah in Karnataka approved a revision of Kannada and Social Science textbooks for classes 6 to 10. This revision involved removing chapters on RSS founder KB Hedgewar and Hindutva ideologue VD Savarkar, among others. Additionally, the government decided to include chapters on the social reformer and educator Savitribai Phule, Jawaharlal Nehru’s letters to Indira Gandhi, poetry on BR Ambedkar, and reverse the changes made by the previous BJP government.
When questioned about the additions and removals made during the revision, the Primary and Secondary Education Minister Kumar Bangarappa clarified that they had only restored the content that existed before the changes made by the previous BJP government. They intended to undo the alterations introduced by the BJP and reinstate the previous curriculum.
