Rajasthan govt tells schools to buy RSS ideologue’s writings

BARMER: The state government has asked all secondary and senior secondary schools to buy a collection of essays and speeches by Bharatiya Jan Sangh founder Deendayal Upadhyaya, drawing allegations of “saffronisation” from the opposition Congress.

The Bharatiya Jan Sangh was the erstwhile avatar of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which currently holds the reins of power in Rajasthan.

A February 27 circular sent out by the state secondary education directorate instructed district education officials to buy copies of the ‘Deendayal Upadhyay Sam- poorna Vangmay’ from Delhibased publication Prabhat Prakashan on the occasion of his birth centenary.

The circular asked the officials to draw from the school development fund — meant to be utilised for local needs — for the purchase. However, some schools had utilised the money before the document reached them.

The book, edited by former state BJP president Mahesh Chandra Sharma, was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at New Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan on October 9 last year. Though the 6,000-page book is priced at ₹6,000, the circular said it will be offered to schools at a discounted price of ₹4,000.

Barmer additional district education officer Malaram Choudhary said the circular, which he received on Tuesday, mandated the purchase of 15 copies for school libraries. “We will soon issue the required directions to secondary and senior secondary schools,” he added.

The Congress, for its part, charged the government with pushing its saffron agenda through school curricula.

“On one hand, they remove chapters on former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, and on the other, they promote their ideology and take decisions that will benefit their leaders economically,” said state Congress vicepresident Archana Sharma. She alleged that the royalty for the books sold will go directly to Sharma, a BJP leader with RSS credentials. HTC