An expert committee appointed by the Karnataka government to review lessons on Tipu Sultan in schoolbooks has reported that it found nothing objectionable in the chapters being taught.
The committee of academics was appointed in November after BJP lawmaker Appachu Ranjan wrote to the state government demanding that all references to Tipu be dropped from school textbooks.
“We cannot ask the government to retain the lessons. Instead, we have stated the facts based on objectivity,” committee chairman Ashwathanarayana, a professor of history at the University of Mysore, told The Telegraph on Wednesday.
The report on the lessons taught in Classes VI, VII and X has been submitted to the Karnataka Textbooks Society, the government body that handles all schoolbooks.
“The MLA (Ranjan) had raised objections based on some documents he had found. We have examined these documents in making our assessment. It is now up to the government to take a decision on the lessons,” Ashwathanarayana said.
“The lessons were worded and framed according to what children of their age should know about Tipu Sultan. There is nothing more in the lessons,” he added.
An aide of minister of primary and secondary education S. Suresh Kumar told this newspaper that the report had yet to reach Kumar’s office. “It is still pending with the Karnataka Textbooks Society. The minister will take a call after studying the report,” said Kumar’s officer on special duty, Umashankar.
The BJP lawmaker who had demanded the exclusion of the lessons said he was trying to meet the minister.
“I will meet him and tell him to drop the lessons. I heard that the expert committee has found nothing wrong in them. In that case let the lessons carry the negative sides of Tipu and how he mass converted Hindus and Christians, looted and demolished our temples and churches,” Ranjan said.
Another member of the committee who declined to be named expressed doubts on whether the government would accept the recommendations. “They seem to have made up their mind to drop the lessons. But we have done our job,” he said. “The whole controversy over these lessons is needless.”
Mahesh Chandra Guru, also a professor from the University of Mysore but not a member of the committee, said he had no hope of the government allowing the lessons to be kept.
“I am sure they are waiting to drop them and remove all references to Tipu, who was a brave ruler who refused to yield to the British empire,” said Guru, who is also a prominent Dalit activist.
The BJP government had scrapped Tipu Jayanti soon after returning to power in July since it did not want government funds to be used to celebrate a “despot”.
A prominent organisation of Tipu lovers has threatened to go to court if the government drops the lessons from the schoolbooks.
“I hope the government doesn’t remove them. But if they do, we will file a case against such a decision,” said Sardar Qureshi, president of the Tipu United Front.
“What other option do we have? Ideally, the government should not drop them since the expert committee has vouched for the contents of the lessons. So where is the need to drop them?” he wondered.
Tipu has been a polarising figure in Karnataka where anything concerning the 18th century ruler of Mysore is anathema to the BJP and its allies.
The erstwhile Congress government headed by P.C. Siddaramaiah had announced Tipu Jayanti to be celebrated across the state on every November 10.
But the BJP and its allies staged massive protests and violence broke out in Kodagu leading to the death of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad activist in 2016.
Each subsequent year witnessed protests by the Sangh parivar that has always called Tipu a “zealot” who attacked Hindus and Christians.