Bengal to get 1,000 RSS schools for nationalistic learning: CM

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday, September 3, said that at least 1,000 schools run by Vidya Bharati, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) educational wing, will be set up within a year.

Speaking at the 74th anniversary of Vidya Bharti at Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, he appealed to the educational body to help impart “nationalistic learning” to students in Bengal. He said such schools will be built in every district, municipality, and panchayat.

Adhikari specifically asked Vidya Bharati to open more educational institutes in South 24 Parganas and Murshidabad, where he claimed “more anti-national activities” occurred.

Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan has long come under scrutiny for promoting anti-Muslim narratives in its textbooks and teaching as well as promoting Hindutva ideology to students.

The CM warned schools they would face strict action if the full version of Vande Mataram is not sung. “I told them that government aid would stop. They then complied partially. They stood up but did not move their lips. I told them that they must move their lips as well,” he said.

‘There should be no madrasa education, only one system’

He asked the RSS-affiliated educational wing to take responsibility for imparting nationalist learning since the Trinamool Congress government has “polluted” educational institutions.

He added that the saffron party-led government believes there should be no “separate” or “madrasa education” and that the state should have only one system.

“And our thinking is that there should not be separate forms of education: Madrasa education and other forms of education. All of it should be one education system,” said Adhikari.

The CM then invoked Hindutva activist Shyama Prasad Mukherjee’s slogan “ek desh, ek bidhan, ek nishan, ek pradhan (One Nation, One Constitution, One Flag, One Leader) and said it should be applied to the education system as well.

CM objects to Minority Department handling universities

Opposing the Minority department handling universities like Aliah University, he said, “We won’t allow an arrangement where the higher education department will look after all universities, while another department will look after Aliah University.”

“As you have been seeing, this government has come to power with a particular ideology. The idea is of ‘one country, one Constitution, one symbol, one leader’, and now the same should apply to education as well. There should be one system for all universities and higher education institutions. You cannot have one department looking after Alia University and another department looking after other institutions. This cannot continue,” the chief minister said.

He questioned why the minority department had sent the list of Muslim students separately. “I felicitated the board examination toppers. Later, the minority affairs department sent me a separate file containing the names of 27 Muslim students.”