BJP bid to script ‘saffron textbooks’ in Karnataka, part of larger electoral ploy

Everything is going as per the expected script in Karnataka.  From the time Basavaraj Bommai took over as Chief Minister last July,  until now,  the ruling BJP-RSS combine has furiously attempted a complete rewrite of the state’s politics and society.  Along Hindutva lines.

From the justification of right-wing moral policing to the creation of a controversy over the wearing of hijab,  consumption of halal meat,  ban on using loudspeaker for the call of prayer (azaan) in mosques and the anti-conversion bill, it seems a text book case on how to target the minority Muslim and Christian communities.

Add to this the attacks by pro-Hindutva groups on Christian missionaries,  homes and churches, and you have all the ingredients of an agenda to polarise communities that have been living in harmony for decades.  But not everything is going to plan, rather, as per the script. 

Widespread protests 

The latest move to rewrite textbooks for school children including Class X and pre-university students to give prominence to the right-wing Hindutva view,  replacing secular history,  has triggered widespread protests from litterateurs, poets and academics, who are now saying “enough is enough”.

Not only has the BJP government managed to rub minorities on the wrong side,  it has also antagonised its own support base – the dominant Lingayat community – as well as the Dalits whose support is required if the party is to return to power in the 2023 elections.

Realising it had probably gone a tad too far,  Bommai, on Friday,  announced that the textbook committee responsible for the changes had been disbanded and chapters on 12th century saint Basavanna would be reversed to the original version.

Also read: Karnataka govt disbands textbook review committee

In the case of the Lingayats,  the BJP’s revision had reportedly deleted criticism of caste discrimination by the 12th century saint,  Basavanna.  The community’s religious leaders also said that the textbooks merely mentioned Basavanna as being part of the broader Veerashaiva community with no reference to his founding the Lingayat sect.

Similarly, reports say the reference to Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism is mentioned after deleting the reason for his action,  which was explicitly linked to caste discrimination among the Hindus.

According to reports, chapters on freedom fighter Bhagat Singh,  erstwhile Mysore king Tipu Sultan and social reformer Savitribai Phule, among others, had either been reworked or dropped.  A piece by RSS founder Hedgewar was included in the revised text book for Class X.  

The Bommai government possibly did not expect a storm of protests from the state’s litterateurs and poets who, almost collectively,  cutting across political differences,  opted to withdraw permission for their writings to be used in any textbook.  Friday’s decision is an admission that the state government had  bitten more than it could chew and scrambled to scotch any more damage. 

Reversal of changes not implied

But,  disbanding of the revised textbook committee does not imply reversal of the changes already made by the panel.  And, reports say that the revisions will go through this year.  If that is indeed the case,  the outrage, even if it dies down, may not entirely go away.  

Also read: ‘Correcting’ Indian history, consequences be damned

When the new right-wing and pro-Hindutva academic and poet Rohith Chakratirtha last September was named top head of the state textbook revision committee, it caused outrage among the state’s highly respected group of literary writers.  The reason was Chakratirtha’s credentials as a loud proponent of Hindutva and someone considered close to the Sangh Parivar. 

However,  Chakratirtha told reporters at that time that it was unfair to target him even before he had started his work.  But now,  the worst fears of secular sections of Karnataka’s writers and poets seem to have come true.

Chakratirtha forwarding a parody of the state’s official song (naada geethe), written by iconic Kannada poet Kuvempu, was also a major issue, creating anger among a wide section of writers, intellectuals and politicians.  Though an inquiry cleared Chakratirtha of any personal involvement in it,  saying he had merely forwarded a social media message,  it went against him. 

Bommai on Friday said it would be investigated as to who was behind the creation of the parody that has caused much grief.

Aggressive Hindutva posturing

Clearly,  the textbook revision is the latest in a series of moves that have either favoured the Hindutva lobby or gone against Muslims and Christians as an attempt to prime the state for the Assembly elections due next May.  The BJP has,  over time,  discovered that nothing succeeds better than aggressive Hindutva posturing. 

The recent BJP success in the UP election, which was seen as a litmus test for the Hindutva brand of politics as against the Yogi government’s sub-par track record in administration and its handling of the COVID pandemic, appears to have influenced the Sangh Parivar’s election managers in Karnataka. 

The BJP,  on the administration front,  has nothing much to crow about in Karnataka.  After dislodging the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government in July 2019 using questionable means,  the saffron party took over power through the backdoor.  Having engineered the destabilisation of the coalition,  the incoming BJP chief minister BS Yediyurappa had his own ideas of ministry formation and the way to run his government. 

He countenanced no diktat from the Nagpur lobby and appeared to be a master of his own decisions – like allotting ministries to the defectors from the coalition government and refusing to provide ministerial berths to Sangh Parivar loyalists.  But what rankled a powerful centrally-backed section of the party was his refusal to play the communal card – once during the COVID pandemic and another time when he refused to blame the minority Muslim community for a riot in Bengaluru city.

Also read: Bengaluru civic polls – The semi-finals before the Assembly elections

Using various reasons,  including reports that Yediyurappa’s son BY Vijayendra was running the administration on the chief minister’s behalf,  the elderly leader was sacked. 

How Bommai made it

Though it initially appeared that his successor Basavaraj Bommai was chosen as he was close to Yediyurappa,  it now increasingly seems that this was not the only reason.  Bommai came from a non-RSS background,  was apolitical in his earlier years though he was the son of the late socialist and chief minister SR Bommai, and was widely seen as someone acceptable across political parties. 

This analysis may have been true,  but only partly so.  For,  assessing the functioning of Basavaraj Bommai since he became Chief Minister in July  2021,  one can say that he is no heavyweight and does not have the power or the will to stem the tide of pro-Hindutva decisions that his government has been taking.  For the party, this is a convenient arrangement, as the Chief Minister is eventually expendable. 

As with chief ministers of most other BJP-ruled states,  Bommai too is likely to be shown the door by the party leadership on the eve of Assembly elections.  As per this new BJP game plan,  the idea seems to be that whatever negativity has been accrued by the incumbent chief minister will go with him or her.  In the process,  the party organisation can get away with whatever mistakes committed during its term in office – a case of wielding power and escaping accountability. 

With less than a year for Assembly elections,  the state needs to brace itself for more polarising decisions.  A small step back on the issue of revising textbooks does not preclude more polarising decisions and an uptick in communal politics in the crucial months ahead.