‘Left-wing threat’: Event to felicitate former Karnataka textbook panel chief postponed

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After left-wing political and social outfits in Karnataka strongly opposed Chintana Ganga, a programme scheduled on Saturday to felicitate former textbook revision committee head Rohith Chakrathirtha, the organisers have decided to postpone the event citing threat by “left-wing groups”.
Saturday’s event was to be organised by Sevanjali Charitable Trust, whose chairman is Mangalore South MLA Vedavyas Kamath. Mangalore University vice-chancellor P S Yadapadithaya was to be the chief guest.
Political and social outfits including the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and All India Democratic Students’ Organisation (AIDSO) among others, strongly condemned the presence of the vice-chancellor at an event to felicitate Chakrathirtha, who has been accused of distorting and saffronising textbooks and insulting the state anthem penned by state poet Kuvempu. In fact, DYFI state president Muneer Katipalla also warned that there would be protests if the felicitation programme is not cancelled.
In a statement late Friday, the organisers of Chintana Ganga said the event was postponed for security reasons after learning that certain left-wing groups have planned to “gherao and attack the programme”. “Always remember that truth will emerge late, but will never die,” it added.
Hanumantha Kamath, secretary of the charitable trust, said on Saturday, “We have now come down to a situation where there is no freedom to even hold a felicitation programme in Mangalore. This is clearly an exploitation of freedom by the left-wing groups who want to create tension in a peaceful society. After speaking to Chakrathirtha yesterday, we mutually agreed to postpone the programme because we learnt that certain anti-social elements have planned to gherao and attack our programme. We don’t want to disturb the communal harmony and as a result we have cancelled today’s programme.”
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