Bengaluru: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has launched a sharp attack on the Centre, alleging that the Union Education Ministry has come under the influence of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and is pursuing a sustained effort to saffronise the country's education sector.
Speaking at a public programme in Karnataka, Kharge criticised the Centre's education policies and curriculum reforms, alleging that RSS supporters were being installed at the helm of educational institutions instead of qualified experts.
He accused the government of attempting to distort history and science to impose narrow political agendas on students. Changes being made to school and college textbooks, he said, were undermining India's diversity and constitutional values.
Kharge said an education system that promotes rational thinking and democratic awareness among the younger generation should not be allowed to be dismantled. He called on secular parties and civil society to strongly oppose what he described as attempts to bring central agencies and autonomous institutions under RSS control.
From the appointment of vice-chancellors at central universities to revisions of the NCERT curriculum, decisions were allegedly being dictated by the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, Kharge said.
He further alleged that the government was seeking to undermine India's pluralistic character by overlooking the historical contributions of freedom fighters while glorifying a particular political ideology. Imposing regressive ideas instead of adopting progressive approaches in the education sector would endanger the country's future, he warned.
Referring to Karnataka, Kharge highlighted the scientific and constitutional corrections made to the state's textbooks after the Congress government came to power. He said the state was preparing to implement a new education policy free from communal influences and aimed at ensuring equality and justice.
The Congress, he added, would fight to protect the country's public education system from what he described as a corporate-communal nexus.