On Karnataka syllabus row, Cong jabs Gadkari: ‘Modi, Shah don't like him’

Congress-led Karnataka government kicked up a storm announcing that a chapter on RSS founder KB Hedgewar will be dropped from the school syllabus.

Published on: Jun 18, 2023, 12:56:30 IST

By HT News Desk

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A day after Union minister Nitin Gadkari termed the removal of chapters on Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar by the Karnataka government ‘unfortunate’, the Congress said the senior BJP leader was trying to please the Rashtriya Swayamseval Sangh (RSS) because Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union minister Amit Shah don't like him. Congress national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said his party believes that the students should be taught about the ideologies of Mahatma Gandhi and not of his assassin.

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. (PTI)

“We believe students of India and Karnataka should study about (BR) Ambedkar, Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi's ideology rather than studying about KB Hedgewar and Veer Savarkar's ideology,” Vallabh said.

“Nitin Gadkari is saying so because he is trying to please RSS as PM Modi and Amit Shah don't like him. Otherwise, he also knows that Savarkar's and Hedgewar's ideology is not India's ideology,” he added.

Gadkari on Saturday said Savarkar was a social reformer and patriot, and it was unfortunate that chapters on him and RSS founder K B Hedgewar were being removed from the school syllabus.

The senior BJP leader was speaking at the launch of the book "Veer Savarkar" in Nagpur.

It was unfortunate that a person (Savarkar) and his family who gave everything for the country had to face insults, Gadkari said.

Savarkar had said that Hindutva is all-inclusive and free from casteism and communalism, the minister said.

"Savarkar was a social reformer, and he is a role model for us," he added.

Without naming anyone, he added that it was very unfortunate that Dr Hedgewar and Savarkar were being removed from school syllabus, and "there is nothing as painful as this."

The Congress government in Karnataka recently kicked up a row by removing chapters on Savarkar and Hedgewar from school textbooks.

(With inputs from ANI and PTI)

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