This is in continuation of the previous post referring to the controversial text book. My attempt is to bring forth some salient issues arising out of the arrival of the text in the Society.
The first important thing is that even those who never bothered about what is being taught in schools have suddenly become aware of what is happening there. The second thing is that the message of forcing issues through mass movement, covertly conveyed by the book, is really being practiced by different groups to protect, or protest against, their interests.
The extracts appearing in the first chapter to display the social situation that existed in Kerala are at least a hundred years old and have no current relevance. The first one about Koodalloor Mana is likely to create a hatred against the Namboothiri clan, though they had done a lot to preserve and promote many forms of the Arts and Literature of Kerala. . The situation described in the second extract to portray the plight of the farmers is far from what exists in Kerala now. Though it might be true that through the Agrarian Revolution and the Land Reforms Act sponsored by the 1957 Government, the Landlords lost their lands and the farmers became the owners, thereafter the farming lands were largely converted for other purposes because paddy cultivation became a hazardous endeavor. The involvement of political parties in organizing the unions of farm workers to protect their ‘rights’ dissuaded the ordinary farmer from paddy cultivation. Many of them turned to cash crops and sent their children to the Gulf for menial labor, which sustains the Kerala economy somewhat, rather than the reforms brought about by successive governments. The recent incident, of the farmers rendered unable to reap his harvest because of the hurdles created by the Marxist Unions will be fresh in the minds of the children.
The charges raised against the chapter on Religion are somewhat manipulated. The text does not contain anything against religion, but is cruelly selective about the extracts chosen. The names mentioned in the extracts that refer to Christianity and the Muslims are comparatively unknown and are praised as ‘the reformers’ of the evils that existed in those religions. The complaint of the protagonists of these religions is perhaps that the greatness of themselves or their religions is not properly highlighted. Similarly, the references to Channar Lahala, Vaikom Sathyagraham and Guruvayur Sathyagraham also project the highhandedness of the Upper Class in the society, which was properly settled through the mediation of the Mahatma. In short, all this is likely to create a divide between the upper and lower strata of society.
But the funniest thing noticeable in this chapter can best be likened to teaching animals to be ashamed of their nakedness. Children in schools are generally unaware of religious and caste differences. They don’t make friends and teams after confirming it. Now, when this controversy has been planted in the society, they have begun to inquire about the religions and castes their classmates belong to! This is a venom purposely inculcated in the society by the politicians for their own personal gains. No child is involved in the eruption of communal clashes; they just don’t understand why people kill their neighbors and why their friends are orphaned. The teacher in the class himself will have great difficulty in explaining terms like Channar, Dalithan, Avarnan and Savarnan. Why should we fill our children’s mind with some poison that they do not possess?
The lesson Mathamillatha Jeevan creates another problem. The parents postpone the decision about the child’s Religion to a later time. When he grows up, the child will curse his parents for not giving him a chance to get the benefits of Reservation under SC/ST/OBC quota, which he will not earn if the fact is not entered in the admission register. His position is worse still if he wants to contest the elections or become a minister! Under whose quota will he become eligible?
The chapter on Freedom Movement disregards many great men who strove hard to achieve Independence and in their place, some comparatively irrelevant individual struggles are mentioned. The quotation from Nehru itself is highly manipulated to serve some vested interests. You cannot show just the image of the elephant's tusks and say that it is a picture of the elephant and it is white in color!
The other serious charge raised by the antagonists is the attempt to spread Communism. This perhaps results from the ubiquitous thread of mass movement against the establishment running throughout the first three chapters. It appears that all extracts are poignantly selected to emphasize its effectiveness in all social issues. Rightly, the Opposition, the Clergy and other social organizations are resorting to this method to fight against the text, which they consider a stick provided by the present Government to beat it with!
In a State where every issue, whether it be price rise or lack of rain, is taken to the streets and ends up in hartal, what is right or wrong? The leftists are perhaps reaping the backlash of their own culture or are they making use of this as a hideout to cover their incapacity in governance? Let us not be surprised if there is a hartal in Kerala when the Americans land on the Mars for the first time!
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