Noted Dalit writer and activist Devnoor Mahadeva on Tuesday withdrew earlier consent given to the Karnataka education department to use portions of his writing in school textbooks in protest against the alleged "saffronisation" of education in the state.
In a letter, the writer said that he would be "happy" if his works were removed from the textbook.
He said that the controversy around the textbook revision committee has been going on and there have been many changes to the PDF version of the textbooks that sometimes include and exclude chapters.
"I would be very happy if my writings are not in the textbook. I am clearly stating that I do not consent to it being included. I am also withdrawing my consent given to the older textbooks," Mahadeva said in his letter.
The statements come even as several groups and the political opposition try to corner the Basavaraj Bommai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the textbook revision in which the saffron outfit has been accused of distorting history, removing chapters and mentions of eminent historical personalities and replacing them with people who are associated with the right-wing.
"In the earlier textbooks, there were stories by L Basavaraj, AN Murthy, P Lankesh, Sara Abubakr which have been excluded and this means that they don't know anything about the culture and tradition of Kannada," he said in his letter.
In 2015, Mahadev had returned his Sahitya Akademi and Padma Shri awards, becoming the first public figure to do so after the Bihar election results.
He added that Rohit Chakratheertha claimed that he was unaware of the caste of these writers because over 90% of all writers belong to his community.
Chakratheertha has come under fire for allegedly removing chapters on Bhagat Singh, Narayan Guru and others, and including the likes of KB Hedgewar, the Rashtra Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder.
BC Nagesh, Karnataka's minister for primary and secondary education, said that none of these chapters had been removed and accused the Congress of glorifying Tipu Sultan and ignoring all other Hindu freedom fighters who took on the British Raj.
"They (Congress) have put those chapters on Tipu Sultan. Is he the only one who fought against the British in the state? Did Kittur Rani Chanamma, Sangolli Rayanna and several others not fight with them (British). If there is anyone who has meted out injustice to the Mysore Maharajas, it is through Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. Was there no injustice to Kannad by Tipu Sultan? What was the need to bring in the Persian language? He removed Kannada, and that also should be included in this chapter," Nagesh said.
He could not be reached for comment on Mahadev's withdrawal of consent.
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