Within hours of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy seeking details of the school in which writer Chandrashekhar Patil’s grandchildren had studied, the latter clarified in Dharwad on Saturday that his lone grandson had studied in Kannada medium at the primary level and the Chief Minister was free to have it investigated through his Intelligence Department.
Reacting to the Chief Minister’s statement, at the Kananda Sahitya Sammelana venue in Dharwad, Dr. Patil said he had one grandson, Chaitrakumar Patil, and he had completed his primary education in Kannada medium and later completed his M.A.
On Mr. Kumaraswamy’s statement that he was ready to close down all private English-medium schools, Dr. Patil said it was a very welcome move.
Sammelana president Chandrashekhar Kambar had emphasised the need for primary education in Kannada and demanded its nationalisation. “Prof. Kambar had said that education after class 8 could be made open to private players. In this context, I consider the statement of the Chief Minister as a positive development,” he said.
On the Chief Minister taking exception to his use of the word ‘Kuttharaswamy’, Dr. Patil said being a writer, he had responded through symbolism. “Kuthari means axe. I wanted the Chief Minister to nourish the tree of Kannada and not act like an axe. I did not make allegations against him. Politicians do not understand the grammar of the language. The Chief Minister is yet to develop the sensitivity to understand the language of writers,” he said.
On his son of the soil comment on the Chief Minister, Dr. Patil said as Mr. Kumaraswamy belonged to a regional party and as such parties stood for regional issues, he had made use of the term. He said that if Mr. Kumaraswamy acted according to his words in terms of nationalisation of education at the primary level, he would be a model to the entire nation.
