External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj came in for sharp criticism in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday for suggesting that the
Bhagawad Gita be declared the national scripture. Demanding that the House disapprove the Minister’s statement, D. Raja (Communist Party of India) said her suggestion should not be seen in isolation as they were part of a “sinister design to subvert the secular fabric” of the country.
At the Gita Prerna Mahotsav organised in the Capital on Sunday to celebrate 5,151 years of the Bhagawad Gita, the Minister had said that it should be declared the national scripture; adding that it had been elevated to this status when Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted it to U.S. President Barack Obama.
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“The diversity of our country should not be taken as a weakness. It should be taken as strength of the country. India is a multi-religious country... You can’t impose one scripture as the book of national scripture. I do not see it as an isolated statement,” Mr. Raja noted, drawing attention of the House to demands from the Sangh Parivar for giving prominence to Sanskrit and claims that the BJP has “re-established Hindu raj’’ after 800 years.
Other members of the Opposition also wanted to raise the issue but the Chair refused to allow an impromptu discussion even as CPI (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury maintained, “if there is any holy book for the Republic of India, it is the Constitution of India”.