The ruling BJP in the state is facing fresh allegations of saffronisation of school textbooks with experts claiming the new Social Science textbooks of the state board for classes V and VIII have covered up all defects of Hindu society they had highlighted till last year.
Although the children are taught about ancient India and the history of South India, nowhere in the textbooks is the word Dravida mentioned, they observe. Also, the word Shudras is mentioned only twice and an attempt has been made to hide the very existence of the caste system in India, they claim, pointing out that the class V textbook says the caste system was not rigid or solidified in the post Vedic period.
“This is a classic example of saffonisation. The state government is trying to hide the very existence of the Shudras and the Dravida people,” says Dr C.S. Dwarakanath, former chairman of the Karnataka State Commission of Backward Classes.
Contrary to popular perception, the textbooks tell you the Aryans were sons of the soil and not outsiders, with the class V textbook maintaining that they had lived 5000 years ago along the banks of the rivers Sindhu and Saraswathi, the experts note, deploring the continued glorification of the Aryans and the Vedic period despite the uproar this had caused in the past.
“For instance it is said women were given a very high place in society by the Aryans and the period is referred to as a golden era. The textbooks also claim that women’s status began to decline in the post-Vedic period," they note with regret.
Interestingly according to the class VIII textbook only Islam and Christianity can be called religions and not Jainism or Buddhism “Buddha started his own religion against Hinduism. But it is sad how the textbooks are trying to mislead the students, ” Dr Dwarakanath laments.