New Delhi: Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh on Wednesday clarified that neither state nor Centre has directed to select Hindi-speaking students for the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" tour, as a controversy sparked after it was reported that the Deputy Director for Pre-University Education Department (Bengaluru South) has sent such directions to the colleges. Nagesh has promised disciplinary action against official responsible for the confusion.
Taking this to Twitter, the Education Minister wrote, "Neither Centre nor the state government has given instruction that knowledge of Hindi or English language were mandatory for students to take part in a tour programme to other states, as part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav."
"Disciplinary action will be taken against the officer/staff responsible for this confusion," he added in his tweet.
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Reacting to the controversy, former CM HD Kumaraswamy demanded that the selection of Kannada students for the programme should happen else he threatened to hit the streets and protest. In a series of tweets, the JD(S) leader condemned the act.
50 students from Karnataka will be sent to Uttarakhand in a batch as part of the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" programme.