Dropping Savarkar From School Syllabus ‘Unfortunate’: Gadkari

Speaking at an event in Nagpur, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that Savarkar was a social reformer, and a role model for all of us.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari has recently said that Hindutva ideologue Savarkar was a social reformer and a patriot, and removal of texts on him and K B Hedgewar from school syllabus was unfortunate. The Union minister said the above while speaking at the launch of a book “Veer Savarkar” in Nagpur on Saturday, June 17, 2023. 

Speaking at the event, Gadkari underlined that Savarkar and his family gave their everything for the country, and yet faced insults. Hindutva is all inclusive and free from any form of casteism and communalism, he added. 

"Savarkar was a social reformer, and he is a role model for us," he said. Without naming anyone, Gadkari said it was very unfortunate that chapters on Dr Hedgewar and Savarkar were being removed from school syllabus, and "there is nothing as painful as this," Nitin Gadkari was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. 

The Union Minister and senior BJP leader made the above remarks while referring to the recent deletion of chapters on Hedgewar from school syllabus by the newly formed Karnataka government. The Karnataka government’s recent move has drawn sharp criticism from the BJP opposition. 

Speaking further, Gadkari recalled how a national leader with whom he once shared good relations criticised Savarkar without knowing him, and how he told him that one should not criticise Savarkar without knowing him. The leader was eventually convinced and said that he would refrain from further commenting on Savarkar, Gadkari added. 

The Union minister further said that both Savarkar and Swami Vivekananda propagated the same Indian and Hindu culture. He further added that the young generation should be made aware of their ideology and also the sacrifices made by them for the country. 

Notably, the newly formed Congress government in Karnataka has been trying to minimize the footprints of the previous BJP government, and had been mulling revisions of syllabus and textbooks in the state. In a war of words last week, Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa said that the BJP government tried to infuse its "corrupt" mindset into the system of studies. He further underlined that the changes that are to be brought under the in school textbooks would be in the larger interest of students, and won't be pro-Congress, or anti-BJP.

(With inputs from PTI)

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