Karnataka Book For Class 8 Students

BENGALURU, India

A fresh controversy has erupted in Karnataka over charges of “rewriting history” by the BJP-led government as the textbook revision committee has reportedly inserted a section on Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in the revised high school curriculum in the state.

The class 8 Kannada textbook says Mr Savarkar used to sit on the wings of a bird and fly out to visit the homeland while he was imprisoned in the Andaman jail.

“There was not even a keyhole in the cell where Savarkar was incarcerated. But, Bulbul birds used to visit the room, and Savarkar used to sit on their wings and fly out and visit the motherland every day,” a passage in the new textbook says.

Mr Savarkar’s role in the Indian freedom struggle has been a big ideological flashpoint between the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or RSS — the ideological mentor of the BJP — and rival Congress.