Author: Times News Network
Publication: The Times of India
Date: June 18, 2004
Introduction: Changes I made were
suggested by Chavan Panel'
The BJP will not allow the Union
HRD minister Arjun Singh to "spread falsehood and push the future generation
onto the island of ignorance" in the name of "detoxification of school
education". Former HRD minister M M Joshi, whose education policy and subsequent
changes in textbooks have been termed "saffronisation of educational courses",
said he and his party would not let this happen. The BJP would strongly
oppose the attempts being made by Arjun Singh to "detoxify" school education.
Joshi said on Thursday that the
government was influenced by the Marxist perception on education, which
was "unjust as it completely ignored India's Vedic past, especially after
the existence of the mythical Saraswati and the presence of a civilisation
along its banks had been established".
Joshi described how Leftist writers
hail Lenin as a great liberator, much above the freedom fighters of the
country "Even Marx presented Indian history in a bad light when he wrote
that it was one of defeat," he said. Joshi said he would like the votaries
of "detoxification" to clarify what exactly did they mean by "saffronisation
of education". The national flag, he said, has saffron in it. "Is that
saffronisation?" asked Joshi while saying that the committee that decided
on the colour included Jawahar Lal Nehru and Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad.
On the pretext of "detoxification" of curricula, Singh was only trying
to put the clock back, Joshi said.
Justifying changes made by him in
the curricula, Joshi said that they were in accordance with the recommendations
of the parliamentary committee headed by S B Chavan. The committee had
said that there should be value-based education, Joshi said and added that
religion could also be a part of such training.
Citing an instance, he said, "Books
which state that the Sikh guru Teg Bahadur was killed by his own relatives,
should not be taught. Then there are books which said that the advent of
Jainism in the country began with Mahavira and not Adinath, and that Brahmins
were beef-eaters. Aberrations as these should not be allowed."
He said that the people in the country
had a right to know why this government was bent on replacing the changes
made by the previous government. The government, he said, was commercialising
education. During his tenure as a minister he never allowed the autonomy
of Central universities and other central institutions to be compromised.
In a lighter vein, he said that
when the universities talked of astrology teaching, his opponents made
a hue and cry but now they say that it was okay. Joshi said, "When you
consult an astrologer at the time of marriage of your children, why denounce
it in public then? Why this double standard?
