After Gita shlokas, now Gayatri Mantra recital in Haryana schools

CHANDIGARH: The BJP government in Haryana has decided to add recital of Gayatri Mantra — a hymn from Hindu religious scripture Rigveda — in school prayers across the state.

State education minister Ram Bilas Sharma said the decision was taken after a meeting with school principals, teachers and other stakeholders on Friday. “The government will issue a notification on Tuesday (February 27),” he said. Sharma added that including Gita shlokas in school syllabus soon after the formation of the government had yielded positive results.

To a query on whether this was saffronisation of education, the minister said, “The sun’s first rays are saffron and the Tricolour’s first colour is saffron. What is wrong with saffron? We are not allergic to this colour,” he said.

CM DEFENDS MOVE

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the decision was taken to increase the level of ethics and culture in the education system. “The education department considered a lot of things before taking this decision. How can we increase the level of education, how can we bring ethics and culture into our system were discussed,” said Khattar.

OPPN FLAYS DECISION

However, Indian National Lok Dal state president Ashok Arora said the decision made it evident that the BJP believed in diverting people’s attention.

State Congress president Ashok Tanwar said he was shocked to see that the state government’s emphasis had, so far, been on ‘teaching lessons from the Gita’ instead of addressing real issues.