Is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Union government “using” the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to spread Hindutva ideology? The question has been raised by a section of teachers and academicians after the CBSE chose the life of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue, as the subject for the latest ‘expression series’ contest for schoolchildren.
Interestingly, the contest comes soon after the Sanskrit week conducted by CBSE last month. The principal of a city school, who did not want to be named, alleged that this is an example of the CBSE being used by the BJP-led Union government “to popularize its ideology”. Though participating in the contest is optional for students and is not part of the syllabus, eminent writer K. Marulasiddappa said, “While I am not against introducing children to national leaders, what is so special about Deendayal Upadhyaya?”
Responding to the allegations, BJP MLC Captain Ganesh Karnik asked what was wrong in asking children to write about Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya. “His contribution to the country is immense and there is great injustice done to him because of his political ideology. People are showing democratic intolerance, in the name of democracy,” he said.
However, students seem to be straying to the BJP’s official website while searching for the ideologue on the internet. A class ten student said the BJP’s website was amongst the top ten results he found for an Internet-search on Deendayal Upadhyaya.
CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi said the contest was an opportunity for students to know more about leaders. This is the second such series and the first one was on freedom fighter and designer of the national flag, Pingali Venkayya, Mr. Joshi said.
