The BJP-led Madhya Pradesh Government has issued a directive making it mandatory for colleges across the state to incorporate books authored by leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), into their curriculum.
The order, issued by the M. P. Higher Education Department, has sparked a political slugfest, with opposition parties criticising the move as an attempt to promote a divisive ideology and the state government under the BJP saying that an anti-national ideology was being pushed earlier.
In a letter addressed to the principals of all government and private colleges, Dr. Dhirendra Shukla, a senior official of the Higher Education Department, instructed the institutions to purchase a set of 88 books. The list includes works penned by prominent RSS leaders such as Suresh Soni, Dinanath Batra, D Atul Kothari, Devendra Rao Deshmukh, and Sandeep Waslekar, all of whom are associated with Vidya Bharti, the educational wing of the RSS. Other authors include Indumati Katdare, Kailash Vishwakarma, Ganeshdutt Sharma, Satichchandra Mittal, BG Unkalkar, VK Gupta, Devi Prasad Sharma, Harishankar Sharma, Bajranglal Gupta, Rakesh Bhatia and Vasudev Sharan Agarwal.
While three of these books have been authored by Suresh Soni, maximum 14 books in the 88-strong list have been penned by Dinanath Batra, the former general secretary of Vidya Bharti.
It may be recalled here that Batra, who is considered one of the biggest RSS ideologues on education, had some years back reportedly proposed to remove revolutionary Punjabi poet Avtar Pash’s poem “Sabse Khatrnaak” from Class XI Hindi textbook Aaroh. Some years back, the Gujarat government had reportedly introduced books penned by Batra for its primary and upper-primary school students.
The list further includes at least ten books written by Dr Atul Kothari (ABVP’s former general secretary) and national secretary of Shiksha Sanskriti Uthan Nyas, which too is an affiliate of the RSS.
Further, the long list includes books containing the compilations of Vidya Bharti and the book on Personality Development by one of the greatest spiritual leaders, Swami Vivekananda. Many of the books are related to Vedic Mathematics.
The letter has been issued in the context of the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 the colleges were directed to set up Bharatiya Gyan Parampara Prakosth (Cell for imparting traditional knowledge of India). The colleges were told to buy books for the cell. The government-run colleges have to make payment with the funds raised through public-private participation, and the private institutions have to use their own funds.
It may be pointed out here that the directive of the Higher Education Department follows a statement made in June by Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav, who had announced plans to incorporate the teachings of Lord Ram and Lord Krishna into the state’s educational curriculum. Mr Yadav, who served as Higher Education Minister in the previous BJP regime, has en a strong proponent of integrating Indian cultural and religious traditions into the education system.
Meanwhile, Congress leader K. K. Mishra has opposed the order of the Higher Education Department. According to Mishra, the authors whose books have been included in the list have nothing to do with education as they are dedicated to an ideology. He asked will the books of such authors inspire patriotism and sacrifice in educational institutions. He promised that the order would be revoked if the Congress comes to power.
According to the BJP’s state unit president VD Sharma, the books that will enhance the knowledge of students have been prescribed. During the Congress rule, the books related to the Left ideology and the attackers were being taught, Sharma said. Nevertheless, the Higher Education Department did not react to the Congress’ allegations.
“What’s wrong with the saffronisation of education? At least we are not promoting the anti-national ideology that leftist thinkers once imposed on our school and college curricula,” Sharma asserted.
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