The chapter on Tipu Sultan has been removed from the Class 7 social science textbook to reduce the curriculum this year
Bengaluru:
The chapter on the controversial 18th century Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan and his father Haider Ali is among those that have been removed from the Class 7 social science textbook, following the Karnataka government’s decision to cut 2020 curricula -2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the chapters on Tipu Sultan were kept in Class 6 and Class 10 books, official sources told the Press Trust of India news agency.
According to the PTI news agency, the revised syllabus posted on the Karnataka Text Book Society (KTBS) website shows that in class 7, social science text, chapter 5 which deals with Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan, historic places of Mysore and the administration of the commissioners were abandoned.
The Department of Public Instruction has decided to reduce the program for the year 2020-2021 due to the pandemic and the disruption of the academic calendar for the year, which has been reduced to 120 working days.
Responding to a question about dropping the chapter in Class 7, officials said it should be noted that students study Tipu Sultan from grades 6 and 10.
A few months ago, amid growing clamor from some BJP leaders to suppress a chapter from the manual glorifying Tipu Sultan, the government formed a committee of experts to review it.
The committee, however, recommended that the leader should not be ignored from the school curriculum.
Commenting on this development, Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar said the BJP government is making such decisions with a political agenda in mind.
Pointing out that Tipu Sultan was a historical figure, Mr. Shivakumar had said: “History is history … you cannot change history. We will not accept it. Congress will take it seriously by creating a committee to examine it. “
Shortly after coming to power, the BJP government in Karnataka dropped celebrations for Tipu Sultan’s birthday, an annual government event the party had opposed since 2015 when it was launched during reign. of Congress, led by Siddaramaiah.
The BJP and some other organizations strongly opposed Tipu Sultan, calling the former king of Mysore a “religious bigot”.
Tipu Sultan was considered a relentless enemy of the British East India Company. He was killed in May 1799 while defending his fort of Srirangapatnam against British forces.
Tipu Sultan, however, is a controversial figure in Kodagu District as the Kodavas (Coorgis), a martial race, believe that thousands of their men and women were held captive during its occupation and subjected to torture, death. and a forced conversion to Islam.
He was also accused of having executed Mandyam Iyengars in the temple city of Melkote, in the district of Mandya, on the day of Deepawali while supporting the Maharaja of Mysuru.
However, the magnitude of such removal is disputed by several historians, as they view Tipu Sultan as a ruler who seized power from the British.
While the BJP and some other organizations view Tipu Sultan as a “religious bigot” and a “brutal killer”, some Kannada groups call him “anti-Kannada”, claiming that he promoted Persian at the expense of the local language. .
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
