Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Congress Karnataka president DK Shivakumar tears pages carrying VD Savarkar’s references in school textbooks, following the party’s victory in the elections.
Fact
Video is of a 2022 protest against the BJP’s revision of textbooks in the state.
A video has gone viral with users claiming that it shows Congress Karnataka president DK Shivakumar ripping pages related to VD Savarkar in school textbooks in the state, just days after the Congress registered a thumping victory in the state Assembly polls, winning 135 of the 224 seats.
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Fact check
The 00.29-second viral video starts with DK Shivakumar saying, “Look at what Basavaraj Bommai [Former Karnataka chief minister] did to the Kannada books”, before proceeding to rip the pages. He did not mention anything about Savarkar, raising our doubts.
Newschecker then ran a keyword search for “Shivakumar textbooks tearing”, which led us to this Youtube video, uploaded by Economic Times, dated June 18, 2022, titled, “Karnataka textbook row: DK Shivakumar tears the copy of a revised textbook as a protest.”
The report carries a video that shows the same event as seen in the viral video, but from a different angle. According to the description, “The KPCC Chief DK Shivakumar tore down the copy of a revised textbook as a protest over the addition and deletion of content in school textbooks in Karnataka.”
A Times Now report, dated June 18, 2022, read, “As per the latest news on Mirror Now, KPCC Chief DK Shivakumar tears a copy of revised textbooks. Protests broke out after the state govt announced a change in textbooks…”.
A relevant keyword search led us to multiple reports on the Karnataka Congress’s protests against the revised textbooks, seen here, here and here. We learnt that the opposition parties, rights groups, writers and seers had accused the BJP government of saffronising school textbooks and casting key social reformers such as Basavanna and Dr B R Ambedkar in a lesser light in new books.
“Shivakumar ripped a copy of the new textbook and said the government should withdraw the revised textbook or face its downfall,” read an Indian Express report, dated June 19, 2022.
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What was the textbook row?
The BJP-led Karnataka government, in 2020, reportedly set up a textbook revision committee, which in 2022 revised social science textbooks from Classes 6 to 10 and Kannada language textbooks from Classes 1 to 10. “Reports said that chapters on freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan, Lingayat social reformer Basavanna, Dravidian movement pioneer Periyar, reformers Narayana Guru and Swami Vivekananda were allegedly removed from the syllabus or severely distorted. However, a speech by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar made its way to the revised class 10 Kannada textbook,” read an India Today report. The state government then said it would not roll back the revised textbooks, but added there were seven to eight mistakes during revision, which will be rectified and sent to schools.
Conclusion
Video of Congress Karnataka president DK Shivakumar tearing a textbook on stage in 2022 in protest against the BJP’s alleged “saffronisation” of education goes viral with a post-election narrative.
Result: False
Sources
Economic Times report, Youtube, June 18, 2022
Indian Express report, June 19, 2022
India Today report, June 9, 2022
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
