Injecting propaganda
Learning acquires saffron hue in RSS-run schools in Madhya Pradesh
Prayers at a Vidya Bharati school
Undoubtedly, the subversion of the educational system by the RSS has the state BJP Government's backing. To give education a saffron hue, entire textbooks from nursery to the postgraduate level are being rewritten with a Hindu emphasis.
More alarming is the Government's decision to give the Vidya Bharati, an RSS-run educational organisation, permission to set up a parallel education board conducting class five and eight exams. Till now, these exams were conducted by the Education Department.
As the efforts to subvert history acquire serious proportions, the Opposition is beginning to stir. Last fortnight the Congress(I), the CPI and the Janata Dal formed a common forum, the Sampradayik Sadbhavna Manch, to fight RSS infiltration into the state Government.
Says MPCC(I) chief Digvijay Singh:' 'The recent example of RSS infiltration was the Government decision to permit Vidya Bharati to conduct examinations."
His concern is legitimate. The decision has far-reaching ramifications. With around 1,600 Vidya Bharati schools catering to 1.95 lakh students in the state, the RSS-run institution now enjoys a carte blanche to steer students' minds in the 'right' direction.
The organisation's Hindutva leanings are proclaimed in its official brochure: "Our goal is to develop a national education system which can create a generation loyal to Hindutva and the nation." As Vinayak Shendey, an RSS worker in charge of the state Vidya Bharati, says: "A silent revolution is taking place in Madhya Pradesh."
Although the Government insists the rewritten history will only be correcting a "distorted" history, its new version is tailored to perpetuate the RSS ideology. While many text-books are still being tampered with, the state University Grants Commission has already introduced a new book, Bharat Ki Sanskritik Virasat (Cultural Heritage of India) in the foundation courses.
While commission Chairman Om Nagpal claims that the book lays emphasis on "projecting the past glory of India", it often borders on crude glorification of all things Indian. Consider these: "Indian culture is among the best in the world....
The Vedas, which epitomise the height of Indian culture, were written at a time when western countries were not even civilised"; "India is the original place of the Aryans. It is open to question that they migrated to other countries from India."
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In keeping with the party's rightist ideology, the communists who refused to participate in the Quit India movement have been described as "traitors".
The rewritten history subverts information by highlighting certain facts and omitting others. Some of the changes that have been agreed upon: a chapter on Karl Marx will be withdrawn from a class five textbook; history books will now project Maharana Pratap and Shivaji as heroes and Aurangzeb as a villain; other textbooks will include the biographies of RSS leaders such as Deendayal Upadhyay and Hedgewar; and courses on the freedom struggle will quote extensively from the writings of the original Hindutva hero, V.D. Savarkar.
The Education Department has already withdrawn the supplementary readers used from class three to eight. The idea, as Education Minister Vikram Verma explained, was to "lighten the load on the children". But the real reason behind scrapping the readers was that they included the biographies of certain national leaders who are anathema to the BJP.
Not surprisingly, the issue has forced its way into Parliament, forcing Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh to declare: "I would only plead with the Madhya Pradesh Government not to treat Gandhi, Mohammed, Buddha and Christ as a burden on children."
The state Government, of course, defends itself. According to the Education Department: "The books are being rewritten under the normal revision programme to update them." But ripping the veil off the Government's pious facade is the conversion of Vidya Bharati into a parallel examination board.
It is no coincidence then that the number of Vidya Bharati schools in the state has shot up from 1,2 00 to 1,600 since the BJP came to power. The Government has also relaxed the rules for appointment of Vidya Bharati teachers: they do not need to undergo training at a government institution.
There have been other examples of the BJP Government's largesse to Vidya Bharati. Although Vidya Bharati claims not to take any grant from the Government, in Bhopal its office is located in a government bungalow. Moreover, Vidya Bharati schools all over the state have been allotted about 200 plots, costing crores, free or for a nominal fee.
Vidya Bharati is now close to achieving its goal of acquiring at least one plot of land in each of the 317 tehsils in the state. The state Housing Board Chairman, Rajendra Dharkar, a BJP politician, has announced in no uncertain terms that Vidya Bharati schools will be given priority over others in allocation of land.
The grossly preferential treatment given to Vidya Bharati has raised many eyebrows. However, Chief Minister Sunderlal Patwa contends that Vidya Bharati has been working with unparalleled devotion without any government help so far.
Besides, the Education Department points out that about 90 per cent of the Vidya Bharati schools were recognised during the Congress(I) rule in the state. So: "Why should there be such a hue and cry if their noble activities have received a little encouragement in the last two years?"
However, it is the BJP-RSS'S insidious motives that are raising hackles. The opposition parties have denounced the decision to grant autonomy to Vidya Bharati as "a conspiracy by the RSS to infiltrate the educational field".
Digvijay Singh is furious: "The BJP Government wants to turn the schools into centres for the dissemination of RSS propaganda." His party has submitted a memorandum to the governor accusing the BJP Government of trying to pollute young minds with communal views.
There are other RSS-linked organisations that are also being promoted. The Government has given a grant of Rs.6 lakh to the Ujjain-based Itihas Sansodhak Mandal to rewrite history from a Hindu point of view.
Apart from this, it has begun the Chitrakoot Rural University in Satna district-with RSS leader Nanaji Deshmukh as chancellor-which will function "on the lines of ancient Nalanda and Takshila".
In the face of such evidence, few believe the state Government when it says it has no intention of subtly filtering its ideology into the state'ssocial and educational structure. Even fewer will do so when their children start spouting RSS shibboleths such as "the 21st century will be the century of the Hindus" in the same breath as their sweet little nursery rhymes.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/learning-acquires-saffron-hue-in-rss-run-schools-in-madhya-pradesh/1/307451.html
