Under severe flak from the Opposition parties and a student organisation over the Maharashtra’s Government’s purported decision to distribute “Bhagwat Gita” copies among college students, the Directorate of Higher Education (DHE) on Thursday stayed the distribution of the copies of the holy books among the students.
After a delegation of Chhatra Bharat, Mumbai, registered a protest against the distribution of ‘Bhagvat Gita’ copies among the students, DHE’sjoint director Rohidas Kale assured the delegation that the directorate was staying its decision and fresh orders would be issued on Friday.
“The Jt. Director of DHE assured us that a fresh circular stopping the distribution of Bhagwat Gita will be issued tomorrow. If they fail to do so, we shall launch an agitation outside DHE’s office,” President of Chhatra Bharat Mumbai, Sachin Bansode said.
The controversy arose after the DHE on Wednesday permitted Bhakti Vedanta Trust from Bhiwandi to district Hindu holy book to a select top 100 colleges in Mumbai with A and A + accreditation. The DHE had given the permission to the private trust through a circular.
However, after the Opposition parties slammed the Maharashtra Government, State Education Minister Vinod Tawde sought to distance himself by saying that the State Government had nothing to do with the controversial circulat which, he said, had been issued by the DHE. “If anything, the Government has provided a list of colleges to the trust,” he said.
Contesting the Opposition’s charge that the ruling BJP was trying to play “Hindutva card” in the run up to the 2019 lok Sabha elections, Tawde said: “If someone says they want to distribute Quran and Bible, we will give them the list of colleges too.. But first, the opposition leaders must clarify whether they feel Bhagwat Gita is not a good enough book to be distributed among the students.”
State Nationalist Congress Party President Jayant Patil said that no one was opposed to the Bhagwat Gita, but demanded to know the need for distribute copies of the holy book in educational institutions. The Congress and Samajwadi Party leaders also came down heavily on the state government for its controversial decision
On his part, Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi had accused the BJP government of “misleading students” in the name of religion.
Tawde said that the Government had neither ordered purchase of any copies of the Bhagwat Gita nor was it involved in the distribution of the holy book by the Bhakti Vedanta Trust.
Incidentally, it was the Chhatra Bharati Mumbai and the Republican Vidyarthi Sena were among the student organisations that questioned the DHE’s decision to include
religious books in the academic curriculum. On its part, the Bhim Army had threatened an agitation if the DHE did not stop distribution of the copies of Bhagwat Gita among students.