HRD Minister Irani says no move to rename festival, and students’ participation is voluntary

Amid row over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s planned interaction with students on Teachers’ Day, HRD Minister Smriti Irani on Monday took to damage control saying that the participation in the event was “voluntary”, not mandatory.

Irani also rejected reports that the Centre was celebrating the day as ‘Guru Utsav’, maintaining it was the name of an essay competition and wondered if those criticising were doing it deliberately for political reasons. She stressed that September 5, the birth anniversary of former President late S Radhakrishnan, will continue to be celebrated as Teachers’ Day.

With the issue snowballing into a major controversy, Irani met the media twice during the day and described the opposition as “regrettable”. She made it clear that the students’ participation in the interaction is “voluntary”.

Teachers’ Day as ‘Guru Utsav’ and the planned interaction of the Prime Minister with schoolchildren on that day have kicked up a controversy with Opposition Congress and others, including BJP allies MDMK and PMK, slamming the Government.

States like West Bengal have voiced dissent over the entire exercise with its Education Minister Partha Chatterjee saying they have little time to make the necessary arrangements for it. The timing of PM’s speech — from 3 pm to 4.45 pm — has also come under attack from parties like the Congress.

Modi is scheduled interact with about 1,000 students at Manekshaw Auditorium in the Capital via video conferencing facility which will be beamed live to over 18 lakh Government and private schools in the country through Doordarshan and education channels.

Congress leader Manish Tewari termed the renaming of the day merely a “packaging” exercise and said the Government is trying to “change packaging and labelling and then trying to pass them off as innovative initiatives”.

Two of BJP’s Tamil Nadu allies also joined the DMK in protest against the alleged renaming of Teachers’ Day as ‘Guru Utsav’, with the PMK terming it as a discreet attempt to impose Sanskrit. leaders of the PMK and the MDMK, S Ramadoss and Vaiko, demanded that the Centre immediately withdraw the order to rename Teachers’ Day as ‘Guru Utsav.’ DMK chief M Karunanidhi had already opposed the move, alleging that it was a conspiracy to downgrade Tamil language and society.

As to the ‘Guru Utsav’ row, Irani said her Ministry had sent a representation to all States about an essay competition under that title in their language. She claimed that over 1.3 lakh students have already taken part in the contest. “I don’t know how it all started. Those who are commenting either don’t know the facts or are doing it wilfully for political reasons,” she said.