Raja Babu Singh, Additional Director General of Police (Training), who had earlier directed all police training schools in Madhya Pradesh to hold Bhagavad Gita and Ramcharitmanas recital sessions for their recruits, asked madrasa students in Madhya Pradesh’s Sehore district to read the Bhagavad Gita along with the Quran while addressing them on Republic Day.
Singh made the remarks on January 26 while delivering a Republic Day address through video conference to students of a madrasa located in Doraha village of Sehore district, where he had been invited as the chief guest for the programme organised to mark the national occasion.
During his address, he congratulated the students on the education they were receiving at the madrasa, and suggested that reading the Bhagavad Gita alongside the Quran would help in broadening their understanding and in guiding them along what he described as an enlightened path.
The senior IPS officer, who belongs to the 1994 batch, stated that his association with the madrasa was not new, as the institution’s maulana had been a long-time acquaintance, and it was at his request that he agreed to speak to the students on Republic Day.
In addition to his remarks on religious and philosophical texts, Singh urged both students and teachers to develop a strong concern for environmental conservation and stressed that protecting nature and promoting rational thinking were essential responsibilities in contemporary society.
He also highlighted the idea of national unity, stating that India’s vast geographical and cultural diversity required collective responsibility to safeguard its integrity, extending symbolically from Kashmir to Kanyakumari.
The remarks are consistent with Singh’s earlier directives issued in his capacity as Additional Director General of Police (Training), under which police training schools across Madhya Pradesh were instructed to organise regular recitals of the Bhagavad Gita and the Ramcharitmanas for recruits, a move he had defended by arguing that such practices would help police personnel lead disciplined and righteous lives.
Before taking charge of police training in the state, Singh had served in various senior positions, including as Inspector General in the Border Security Force, where he was posted in Kashmir, and his public statements in recent years have frequently focused on moral education, social harmony and national unity.