Reconstitute cultural expert panel, urges Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: Taking strong exception to the Centre's decision to constitute a 16-member expert committee to study Indian culture of the past 12,000 years, former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said that it should be reconstituted.

He said it was "very unfortunate" that the panel did not have any Kannadiga or south Indian who knew about Dravidian culture.

The Janata Dal-Secular leader said the committee needed to be reconstituted due to doubts about the objectivity of the proposed study as the panel is filled with those who appear to be holding prejudices over culture, history, and heritage, besides being "fully occupied by north Indians".

Kumaraswamy tweeted that the committee does not even have a woman member. "Is it possible to conduct a fair and unbiased study of Karnataka's culture and heritage without having Kannadiga representatives in the committee? How can we think of studying the history and culture of the entire country by keeping south Indians out?" he questioned.

"We are the people who compared the country to our mother and the holy cow. How is it that the committee to study the culture of a country that worships women does not have any place for a woman?"

Union Culture Minister Prahlad Patel had informed Parliament on Monday about the pane.