Bengaluru: Days after Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa spoke of a revision in school textbooks in the state, the cabinet formally took a decision to that effect Thursday. Significantly, the cabinet has also decided to repeal the controversial anti-conversion law mooted and passed by the previous Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state.
The decision to repeal the anti-conversion law has been termed by the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government as an attempt to “right the wrongs of the previous administration”.
The Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, or anti-conversion bill, was passed in the Karnataka legislature last year. The Congress, then in opposition in the state, had staged a walkout.
Now the decision of the Congress — which was voted to power in the state last month — to repeal the bill has ruffled the BJP and added to the friction between the two parties, with the BJP accusing the Siddaramaiah government of attempting to give a “safe haven for conversion factories” in the state.
“We have approved the bill to repeal the changes [anti-conversion law] that were brought in by them (BJP government) in 2022. It will be tabled during the session starting from 3 July,” Karnataka’s Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, H.K. Patil, told the media in Bengaluru Thursday.
He added: “Regarding textbook revision, the Cabinet discussed the proposal brought by the department, the lessons removed and added, and the decisions to be taken, and has given its approval,” Karnataka’s Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, H.K. Patil, told the media in Bengaluru Thursday.
Revising school textbooks to remove changes made by the previous BJP government when in power in the state was part of the Congress’s poll manifesto for the 10 May elections, which it won with a clear majority.
“We have only restored what was there before the previous BJP government made changes; we have removed the changes they had made,” Bangarappa told the media Thursday.
He added: “We have removed a chapter on Hedgewar [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh founder], [Vinayak Damodar] Savarkar and a chapter written by Hindu activist and thinker Chakravarthy Sulibele. Also some harsh words have been changed.”
The Congress had opposed the revision of textbooks when it was implemented early last year and called it an attempt by the BJP to “saffronise” school education.
While the new academic year has already started in Karnataka, the Congress government has said that it will make arrangements to review the textbooks.
“There is a provision of supplementary books as done in the past, so we are going for a supplementary book regarding what is to be done and what is not needed or may lead to wrong thinking. We have removed what was not required,” Bangarappa said.
The supplementary textbooks will have some chapters that were removed by the previous administration to complete the syllabus.
He added that a five-member expert committee of educational experts and writers, including Rajappa Dalawai, Raveesh Kumar, T. R. Chandrashekar, Ashwath Narayan, and Rajesh, has worked on revising the textbook for this year.
Bangarappa said that though there were attempts to make “larger changes” to textbooks, the government will make required efforts to institute essential changes to textbooks of classes 6 to 10.
Also read: In Karnataka, round one went to Siddaramaiah but ‘eventual successor’ Shivakumar won’t cede
‘Congress succumbed to pressures of conversion mafia’
Meanwhile, the Congress government’s decision to repeal anti-conversion law has drawn widely different reactions in the state.
The Bommai-led government had brought in an ordinance against religious conversions, before getting the ‘Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill’ passed in legislature.
The law criminalised and penalised any religious conversion by “misrepresentation, force, fraud, allurement or marriage” and imposed heavy penalties for defaulters, including jail term of up to 10 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh.
The passage of the bill had reportedly witnessed a sharp increase in vigilante groups accosting minority groups, accusing them of converting marginalised groups.
“The repeal of this controversial bill serves as a validation of the consistent stand taken by the Church and the Community. It reaffirms the belief that the legislation was not only detrimental to the individual’s freedom of religion but also stood in direct contradiction to the provisions enshrined in Article 25 of the Indian Constitution [freedom of religion],” Reverend Dr. Peter Machado, the Archbishop of Bangalore and president of the Karnataka Region Catholic Bishop’s Council said in a statement Thursday.
The Siddaramaiah government’s move, however, caused the BJP to hit out at the Congress.
“Anti Conversion Bill aimed at preventing conversion by means of ‘allurement’, ‘coercion’, ‘force’, ‘fraudulent means’ & also ‘mass conversion’. By repealing the law, Congress has succumbed to the pressures of Conversion Mafia & has given a safe haven for Conversion factories,” B.Y. Vijayendra, the state BJP Vice President and MLA from Shikaripura in Shivamogga said in a post on Twitter.
Anti Conversion Bill aimed at preventing conversion by means of 'allurement', 'coercion','force', 'fraudulent means' & also 'mass conversion'.
By repealing the law, Congress has succumbed to the pressures of Conversion Mafia &has given a safe heaven for Conversion factories. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/gVn1hbpclz
— Vijayendra Yeddyurappa (@BYVijayendra) June 15, 2023
He added that repealing of the act “gives a free hand to some anti-national foreign elements” whose aim was to change the demographics of the country with “nefarious designs”. He said that this would be a shot in the arm for ‘Love Jihad’, a term often used by Hindutva outfits to target interfaith relationships.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
Also read: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah’s Cabinet gives ‘approval to Congress poll guarantees’ in 1st meeting