The speech of RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar that appears as the lesson “Nijavada Adarsha Purusha Yaaragabeku?“ (Who should be the real role model?) in first language Kannada text of Class X has undergone some interesting editing.
The original text of Hedgewar’s speech, while talking about how the flag symbolises the history and culture of a country, uses the word “Bhagwa dhwaja”, which is specifically the flag of the RSS. The Class X text, however, uses just the word “dhwaja” (flag) instead.
Textbook revision committee head Rohith Chakrathirtha told to The Hindu, “Hedgewar’s speech was made in a certain context, which is different from what it is now. We have made some modifications to suit the school curriculum framework.” He said that editing a text suitably for the syllabus is not unprecedented and it was done by the previous textbook committee too.