An illustration of iconic poet Subramanya Bharati with a saffron-colour turban in the general Tamil textbook for class 12 was released by the school education department and educational services corporation on Monday in Chennai. Not surprisingly, this new Tamil textbook released by the Tamil Nadu government has stirred controversy.
The textbook with a colourful cover page—depicting images of Bharati, classical dance, folk art and the images of temples—was released by School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan and educational services corporation chairperson B. Valarmathi on Monday.
The cover page has the image of Bharati who had a strong sense of social justice and instigated the fight for self-determination. Bharati is depicted wearing a saffron-colour turban on his head. With a handlebar moustache and a white-colour turban, Bharati's image has always stood ahead in the minds of people as a fiery poet and an epoch of enlightenment.
“Has anyone at any point of time seen Bharati with a saffron-colour turban? The colour is very prominent on the cover page,” alleged former school education minister and DMK MLA Thangam Thennarasu. The image of Bharati and his coloured turban has stirred controversy at a time when parties in Tamil Nadu have been vociferous against the Narendra Modi government's National Education Policy, which talks about a three-language policy in schools.
However, designer Kathir Arumugam, who has been into textbook cover designing for over 13 years, says the depiction of Bharati was not done intentionally. “Please take a deep look into the cover page. It has all the colours in our national flag. The turban colour is not saffron. It is orange,” he explains. Kathir has apparently depicted Tamil culture with the national colours.
“The colour is given intentionally, I feel. We have never seen Bharati with an orange-colour turban. The shades could have been given with different prominence. For highlighting the tricolour, what is the need for Bharati’s turban to be in saffron?” asks a senior Tamil teacher from a school in Chennai on condition of anonymity.
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She says every cover image goes to print after an approval from the school education department and the educational services corporation. “Did they actually take a look into it? I wonder how they didn’t know it is saffron,” asks the teacher.
While the ruling AIADMK had always maintained that there is no space for religion or politics in school education, for the first time, a Tamil textbook is mired in controversy on the very day of its release.
