India: Human rights body PUCL demands Rajasthan govt. to take back Surya Namaskar order

PUCL demands Rajasthan govt. to take back Surya Namaskar order
04 Feb 2015 07:02 PM, IST

PUCL demands Rajasthan govt. to take back Surya Namaskar order
Children at a govt school in Madhya Pradesh doing surya namaskar in Jan 2012. (Photo credit - Pankaj Tiwari - India Today)

By IndiaTomorrow.net,

Jaipur, 04 Feb 2015: The People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has strongly protested against the Rajasthan government order making Surya Namaskar compulsory for all schools in the state. PUCL termed the move as an attempt to coerce children of other religions to participate in Hindu religious practices.

“The order of making compulsory Surya Namaskar for all Government and Private schools is clearly an attempt at coercing children of other religions to participate in Hindu Practices as Surya Namaskar is nothing but one such Hindu religious practice. If this is not an attack on the Secular nature of our schools then what would be?”, asked PUCL.

“The Minister Vasudev Devnani who became a Minister by taking the oath of a Secular Indian Constitution has forgotten that the State in India has no religion and that this directive in a way orders the domination of one religion in school which all children have to practice,” said the civil rights body and demanded Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje to “take back this order and restore the secular nature of our school system.”

PUCL, in a statement released today, said “there is a resurgence of Hindutva forces in Rajasthan and it is being led by a section of the Government Minister and those close to the ruling dispensation.”

Rajasthan is currently ruled by Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The group also condemned glorification of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Naturam Godse in a Rajasthan town Alwar.

“The PUCL is shocked that despite more than 24 hours having passed since an attempt was made of naming a Flyover after "Nationalist Nathuram Godse" on the 3rd of February, 2015, no FIR as yet has been lodged by the administration neither any attempt made by them to arrest the violators and those spreading hate. We demand from the district collector and SP to immediately lodge an FIR against the accused who presented themselves to a section of the media,” PUCL demanded in the statement signed by Prem Krishan Sharma (President, PUCL Rajasthan,) Kavita Srivastava (General Secretary, PUCL, Rajasthan), Munshi Khan (President, PUCL Alwar district), Noor Mohammed (General Secretary, PUCL Alwar district).


source: http://www.indiatomorrow.net/eng/pucl-demands-rajasthan-govt-to-take-back-surya-namaskar-order