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Aligarh Muslim University, Raja Mahendra Pratap and Attempts of Polarization

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Raja Mahendra Pratap

Those resorting to communal politics have not only perfected their techniques of polarizing the communities along religious lines, but have been constantly resorting to new methods for dividing the society. On the backdrop of Muzzafar nagar, where ‘Love Jihad’ propaganda was used to enhance the divisive agenda, now in Aligarh an icon of matchless virtues, Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh is being employed for the similar purposes.

The attempt by BJP and associates to hold the memorial function in his honor within campus was successfully deflected by the Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) University with the plan for a seminar befitting his contribution to the freedom movement of this AMU alumnus.

BJP dug up this icon from pages of history and gauzing prevalent respect for him after the lapse of decades after his death. The answer to why now at this particular juncture is very revealing. Mahendra Pratap died on 29 April 1979, and now out of the blues BJP seems to have felt that his Jat, Hindu identity can be pitched as a flag of their politics. Pratap was a freedom fighter extraordinary, a journalist and a writer. He was a humanist, believing in International federation of nations transcending the national and religious boundaries. He was a Marxist who called for social reforms and empowerment of Panchayats. He was president of Indian Freedom Fighters’ Association He was also the first one to form the provisional Indian Government in exile by establishing it in Kabul in 1915. Just to recall the Indian National Congress adopted the goal of complete freedom for India much later in its 1929 session. This Provisional Government was called Hakumat-i-Moktar-i-Hind, and was constituted with Pratap as the President, Maulvi Barkatullah as prime minister and Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi as interior minister.

After independence he also participated in the electoral arena where he defeated Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Mathura in the 1957 Lok Sabha election. His commitment to being opposed to communal forces could not be more evident than this opposition of his to the leader of Bhartiya Jansangh, Vajpayee. Ironically same person is being lifted up as the icon, who opposed their politics. BJP leaders like Yogi Adityanath are claiming that had Mahendra Pratap not donated the land the AMU would not have come up. This is contrary to the facts. The predecessor of AMU, Mohammadan Anglo Oriental College was formed in 1886, with a land bought from British cantonment (Nearly 74 Acres) and much later Pratap had leased 3.04 acres of land, this is called Tikonia ground and is used as a playground by the City High School of AMU in 1929. He joined the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College in 1895, but could not complete his graduation. He left MAO College in 1905. MAO became Aligarh Muslim University in 1920, which regards Raja Mahendra Pratap Singh as an alumnus. In 1977, AMU, under V-C Prof A M Khusro, felicitated Mahendra Pratap at the centenary celebrations of MAO.

He wasn’t born when MAO was established, and there is no record of any donation of land from him. Mahendra Pratap’s father Raja Ghanshiam Singh of Mursan had got a hostel room constructed, which continues to stand as Room Number 31 in Sir Syed Hall (South).

BJP demanded that Mahenra Pratap’s birthday should be celebrated as AMU celebrates the birthday of Sir Syed, the founder of the University RSS Functionaries and BJP leaders put pressure on the VC. VC pointed out that AMU cannot celebrate birth day of every donor or alumnus, while recognizing their contribution to the building up of the University. As such already AMU in recognition of Pratap’s contribution to the University has put up his photo in University along with the photo of Sir Syed.

On November 17 (2014), BJP chief of UP Mr. Laxmikant Bajpai and general secretary Swatantra Dev Singh visited Aligarh and directed their district unit to celebrate the birth day of Mahendra Pratap’s within the MU campus. The raja is a also Jat icon, In popular perception AMU is seen as a Muslim institution. The Jat-Muslim conflict instigated by communal forces, which erupted in the form of violence in Muzaffarnagar continues to affect in western part of UP. The BJP through its machinations allegedly wants to restore the glory of a Jat ‘king’. As such the idea is to appropriate one more of icons and in the process if the state government puts curbs on the celebration, the BJP can benefit by accusing the state Government of “Muslim appeasement”.

As the matters stand VC, Gen. Shah’s suggestion of celebrating the birth anniversary of Raja Mahendra Pratap by organizing a seminar on his contribution to freedom movement of India is a welcome initiative. The situation seems to have been diffused for the time being. BJP had planned a rally outside the gate of AMU, which would have precipitated the unwarranted incidents.

This whole episode has many lessons for the society. To begin with, the national icons are being modulated to suit the interests of communal politics. Be it Sardar patel, Swami Vivekanand, Mahatma Gandhi or in this case Raja Mahendra Pratap, they are being presented in the light which suits the communal politics. In case of Mahedra Pratap, who was a Marxist internationalist; is being presented as a mere Jat leader. He was a person who opposed the politics in the name of religion, as is evident by his electoral fight against BJP’s previous avatar, Bhartiya Jan Sanghs’ Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Secondly BJP associates are manipulating people’s identity as primarily being religious identity, Hindu or Muslim. In case of Muzzafarnagar, the Jats who were instigated in the name of ‘love Jihad’ came to stand more for Hindu identity. This identity is then made to stand opposed to the ‘other’ religious identity in particular, the Muslim identity and sometimes Christian identity. Same game is also being experimented in parts of Delhi, where Dalits are being made to pitch against Muslims, in a way two deprived communities being made to fight for’ their’ religion’ on the pretext of some issues related to faith.

The communal politics not only manipulates the identity of the people but also that of the icons, as is clear in the case of Raja Mahendra Pratap. The third major lesson for society to learn is that the search is on to find more and more issues to pitch one religious community against the other to strengthen the politics of a particular type. While the top leadership will talk of moratorium on violence, the associates of the same leadership will stoke the processes which will lead to the process of violence in due course.

A great amount of restraint is needed to ensure that we learn the values of the icons, e.g. the likes of Mahendra Pratap teach us the basic lessons of love and amity, peace and universal humanism. To use the techniques of conflicting religious identities is a gross violation of human morality, irrespective of the religion in whose name it is done.

Dear PM, Save Our Colleges From Communal Agendas

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Aligarh Muslim University

by Rana Ayyub

My father, a noted writer from the field of Urdu literature, like many of his friends from the Progressive writers movement, found in his alma mater Aligarh Muslim University, the courage to break the barriers of religion enforced stereotypes. He forced his wife, my mother, who was raised in a conservative family of zamindars from Uttar Pradesh to pursue her education post marriage and give up all ominous practices of subjugation.

Among the first few books my mother was gifted besides Maxim Gorky’s ‘Mother’ were on Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder of AMU, and Sultan Shahjahan Begum, the first female ruler who vehemently worked for the promotion of education amongst women and Muslims in particular.

Shahjahan Begum, also referred to as the Begum of Bhopal, was the first Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University which gave India some of its best known luminaries from the field of politics, art, literature. AMU alumni include former Presidents of India and current Vice President Hamid Ansari, who also served a term as the Vice Chancellor of the university.

Some of the most prolific writers and thinkers with affiliation to the Marxist philosophy owe their careers to AMU. One such figure was Raja Mahendra Pratap, an admirer of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, who started the Mohammad Anglo Oriental College after successfully completing his education from Oxford and Cambridge.

With the dominance of religious education in the lives of Muslims, who were in the lowest rung of socio-economic progress, Sir Syed understood that religious studies from Madrassas did not give the less privileged a window into the world; for them to succeed, there was a dire need for a platform which helped them with a contemporary understanding of religion, philosophy and science.

While the University was started with the intent of providing modern education to Muslims, non-Muslims were welcomed. It was for this reason that many Hindu rulers of the time sent their children to the Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College spread over 468 hectares of land which was later renamed the Aligarh Muslim University.

So impressed was Raja Mahendra Pratap with the vision of Sir Syed that he decided to lease 3.04 acres of land to the AMU in 1929. Though it was a small share, this helped forge a strong bond between Hindus and Muslims. His commitment to the social cause and his zeal for the Marxist thought was such that Lenin himself is said to have invited him to Russia post the success of the Bolshevik revolution.

An independent MP from Mathura from the year 1955 to 1962, and a freedom fighter with a desire to weed out communal thinking, Mahendra Pratap despised all form of right-wing indoctrination. Little did he realize that one day his name would be used by right-wing leaders to turn an educational institute he so admired into a ground for religious polarisation.

Satish Gautam, BJP MP from Aligarh, whose party has professed commitment to ushering in a new era of development and inclusive growth, has decided to use AMU to instigate communal politics between Jats and Muslims, both communities being the main constituents of Aligarh.

Satish Gautam, a popular figure amongst Jats, possibly realises that the last time the two communities were provoked in Muzaffarnagar, it earned rich political dividends for his party. But in his overzealous endeavour to use AMU, he has conveniently forgotten to state some very important facts to his followers.

It would be judicious on the part of Satish Gautam, who has threatened to hold a rally at the gates of the AMU on the birth anniversary of Raja Mahendra Pratap on the 1st of December to list for his followers some of the most revolutionary non-Muslim thinkers from AMU. Before and during the freedom movement, both Muslim and Hindu kings and rulers united against the British and helped each other – these included funding educational institutions. AMU and the famous Banaras Hindu university were the two icons of this educational uprising that received patronage from both the communities.

Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya, the founder of the Banaras Hindu University, had no qualms about accepting funds from Muslim rulers and elites.

If one were to accept the BJP MP’s logic, then each and every person who leased land for the 468 hectares of AMU will have to be celebrated just like each and every donor of BHU and thousands of other educational institutes in India.

Would the BJP MP not do a great service to the iconic institution by asking it to celebrate the birth anniversary of social reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who was one of the main influences on Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, or guide the non-Muslim students of Aligarh to the plaque of historian Ishwar Prasad, who belonged to the first batch of graduates from the AMU?

The Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University has written to the Education Minister Smriti Irani stating that the BJP’s decision to hold a rally would provoke communal tension; he has said the university is willing to diffuse the tension by holding a seminar on Raja Mahendra in the future. Smriti Irani displayed her feminist side by speaking out against the VC’s alleged decision to not allow female undergraduate students into the Central library – she called it an “insult to the daughters of the country.”

Now she should take the first step in saving the legacy of the likes of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya by weeding out the rogue elements who threaten to target educational institutions.

In the last few months, there seems to have been a meticulous plan to target educational bodies by fringe elements by planting fictitious stories and dividing them on religious lines. On this particular occasion, it would be wise for the powers that be to not allow local Samajwadi Party and BJP leaders to target the sacrosanct for a communal or political agenda. Both the HRD Minister and the Prime Minister, who has held education as one of the key areas of development in his agenda, should step forward to save the legacy of the great reformists from being converted into a communal experiment.

Rana Ayyub is an award-winning investigative journalist and political writer. She is working on a book on Prime Minister Narendra Modi which will be published in 2015.

Future in Safe Palms

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smriti-irani-astrolger

by Anand Mazgaonkar

Ms. Smriti Irani consulting her astrologer is her private matter. In fact most things she does might be private matters. Election victory does turn things into private property. Astrological advice is the wisest thing one can do. It is her sacrifice for the Nation. We all know she has very selflessly dedicated herself to the service of the nation.

It is not only an absolutely self-abnegating act on her part, she’s had the foresight to ensure that there will be no vacuum when Mr Pranab Mukherjee finishes his term. Shri Nathulal Vyas has put to rest a whole Nation’s anxiety and reassured us that there will be continuity after Mr Pranab Mukherjee. Our bull run of happy days, ‘Achhe Din’ continues endlessly. For the first time in our country’s history we have a President-in-waiting.

She is indeed the most eligible person we have for President. For long we’ve experienced a dearth of talent in Rashtrapati Bhavan. It’s been long since someone like Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed or Giani Zail Singh adorned that office.

Who better can we have as President than someone who’s ‘educated’ at Yale, has acted in soap operas, and has been flexible in ‘altering’ her opinions and positions. Remember she was distressed by the violence in Gujarat in 2002, and the then Chief Minister’s handling of the situation, until better wisdom dawned on her and she ‘adapted’ her opinion. Since then its been ‘Achche Din’ for her, never mind loss of elections. She generously wants to share her fortune with the country now.

Where the Nation’s Education is concerned, never mind an unclear, distorted, mis-stated, over-stated personal educational record, a future foretold by astrologers is what must guide us.

Becoming Minister immediately after losing elections is easy, especially if you’re not alone. Remember Mr Arun Jaitley also belongs to that chosen breed? Becoming President in case of an election defeat may need a Constitutional amendment. But, that is a small matter if an astrologer has ordained it.

Luckily, astrology must have been the guiding principle in the whole Cabinet formation. Mr Nitin Gadkari (Qualification: Purti fame), Mr Nihal Chand Meghwal (Qualification: Rape charge), Mr D V Sadanand Gowda (Qualification: Successful defence of son from rape charge) are shining examples where business dealings, criminal charges or their children’s actions added a feather in their caps.

In any case our electoral system does need reform. Even Mr Arvind Kejriwal has been calling for it. MPs, and MLAs deciding who will hold the country’s highest office is absolutely irrational. That should be entrusted to a Khap Panchayat consisting of astrologers, religious luminaries and Corporate honchos.

Today, India’s Education is in safe hands, tomorrow every aspect of India’s future, including ceremonial future will be in safe hands. Mrs. Irani’s formidable record as Human Resources Development Minister inspires tremendous confidence. As HRD Minister she’s has not executed blindly, unilaterally, the Sangh Parivar’s Education and Culture agenda, she seems to have consulted astrologers too.

Hopefully, our next Budget may be determined by Mr Nathulal Vyas’ (or someone from his profession) reading of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s palm. Actually, Mr Vyas reading Adani’s or Ambani’s palm might be even better. Fotunately that’s how SBI’s $ 1 billion loan to Adanis Australian coal mining project seems to have been cleared.

(Anand Mazgaonkar is with Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti, Gujarat and Adviser to National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM))

“Teach about Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi as national hero”: Global Hindu Foundation to Ministry of Education

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by Teesta Setalvad

Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi is a “national hero” who “fought for independence from the British” and whose reputation has been tarnished by previous governments and who should figure prominently among the new list of national heroes to be taught in all government schools.

So urges a controversial letter dated November 15, 2014 addressed to Smriti Irani, cabinet minister for Human Resources Development, and posted on the home page of savetemples.org, the website of the “Mission to Save Hinduism and Hindu Temples”. Touted as a ‘Project of Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) USA’, the mission operates out of the ‘Save Temple Office’ opened in Hyderabad city in June 2012.

The letter urges that the Modi government should encourage teaching about national heroes “who sacrificed their life in order to guarantee freedom for the future generations.” According to the letter Godse is one such.

“…It is time to teach about their heroism, their love for Bharath, their struggles with British rulers, their imprisonment, their hangings and/or suffering. Their martyrdom is unparalleled and unmatched. They cheerfully sacrificed their life for the sake of the people of Bharat to enjoy their unbridled freedom with dignity and pride.” Others, who figure in this letter along with Godse who deserve to be taught about are Balagangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai, Bipin Chandra Pal, Subhash Chandra Bose, Veer Savarkar, Bhagat Singh, Raj Guru, Sukhdev, Chandrasekhar Azhad, Vasudev Balwant Phadke and the Chapekar brothers.” Needless to say, Gandhi does not figure in the list; nor does Jawaharlal Nehru, or even Sardar Patel.

It appears that the Save Temple project is funded entirely through saffron dollars raised in the US. The appeal for donations towards the end of the letter informs potential donors that the GHHF is exempt from the US federal income tax rules. It is not clear whether the Save Temple Project is registered under FCRA.

The letter also stated that most of the books written by Marxists, Muslims and Western historians “are so slanted, abusive, hateful, repulsive and intolerable to the true history of India, so derogatory to the national freedom fighters, so demonizing to Sanatana dharma, so negligent of the contributions of great emperors to establish Hindutva, and so boastful of the Muslim aggressors as contributors to the Indian culture”. The letter extols the virtues of Subramanian Swamy for “calling for the burning of the writings by Nehruvian historians.”

The letter adds that, “We feel that it is time to fire all these left wing historians who have stabbed the Mother India for many decades and employ those scholars who appreciate the richness of the Sanatana Dharma into National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE), National Censor Board and other agencies. It is time to reclaim what is lost, revamp the whole school curriculum, and rewrite the history debunking these leftwing Nehruvian historians.”

This letter comes at a time when the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s brand of history writing is attempting a complete capture of India’s institutes of higher learning and research, and also at a time when the RSS backed Shiksha Bachao Andolan is planning a national level conference at Ujjain of 200 ‘academics and experts’ to ‘review’ the emphasis and focus of the previous Radhakrishnan, Mudaliar and Kothari Commission reports. Supremacist and exclusivist brands of ‘history writing’ are making their political advantage felt with their unquestionable hold on the Modi government.

In this letter sent to Smruti Irani today, the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation has also, chosen specifically to advise the Modi government to misinform Indian children about the three sites of perpetrated conflict that have had specific import for the politics of communal mobilisation in India since the mid- 1980s, that is Faizabad-Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura. The issue of the site where the Babri Masjid, a 400 year old Mosque stood is at present before the Supreme Court of India after the Mosque was illegally demolished on December 6, 1992. The other two sites, at Mathura and Kashi, have been at the heart of the BJP-RSS-VHP-Bajrang Dal mobilisation that aims to ‘re-claim’ or ‘destroy’ the Mosques that stand cheek by jowl to temples at these sites. Presently they are governed by the Places of Worship Act, 1991 have also mentioned in a Supreme Court directive, generally protecting their status. An infamous slogan of far right in India since 1992 when the 400 year old Mosque was demolished has been,’ Abhi to bas yah jhanki hai, Kashi Mathura baki hai’ (This gives but a glimpse, Kashi/Banaras and Mathura still remain [as the objective]).

This letter quite clearly exhorts the Modi government that, school text books, “should also teach children as to how Krishna Janma Sthala was destroyed, how Ayodhya was converted to Babri Masjid, how Kashi Vishwanath Temple was destroyed and built Mosque in front of the Temple, and how more than 2000 Temples were converted to Mosques.”

Other suggestions coming from the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation include the compulsory teaching of the Bhagwad Geeta in schools where the letter says a “….a mere chanting of few verses is enough to awaken the consciousness of the individual and maintain the balance between the body, mind and soul. In fact, it improves the brain capacity to absorb the knowledge; teach the individual the responsibility of their dharma; emphasize the importance of bhakti, Jnana, karma and raja yoga; equip the individual fearless and give the needed strength to face the problems at hand; encourages one to think and uphold the dharma to protect human existence; and so on. No age is bar to learn and chant Bhagavad Gita. As young as three year olds chant the divine song. Its message is unmatched, unparalleled and unrivalled.”

The Ramayana should also be taught since “ Rama’s name is on the lips of every Hindu. He taught us to be a perfect son, a perfect brother, perfect husband, a perfect enemy, and a perfect king. He taught us how to live according to dharma in the face of un-surmountable hurdles.

Unashamed in its motive to convert history teaching – from a vibrant discipline with specific disciplinary tools for interpretation, analysis, verification and authentication that include contemporaneous sources, an understanding of archaeology, and secondary sources, a thorough reading of ancient and medieval languages — to a politico-religious project, the Global Hindu Heritage Foundation says it would like to see “Rama portrayed as a living national hero and Indian history as Sanatani (upper caste) Hindu… Lord Rama, who is known for his compassion, gentleness, kindness, righteousness, non-hatred, and integrity, has served as role model for all of us to follow for millennia. His respect for father and obedience to his command was unparalleled that all humanity should emulate. Guru-Sishya relationship was emboldened in Ramayana for all of us follow, cherish and nurture, especially in the modern society…”

“…Sita, Lakshmana, Bharatha, Dasaratha, Jataayu, Vali, Vibhishana, and Lord Hanuman have shaped the mind, body and soul of Bharath for many millennia. Every character teaches us how to live a dharmic life and how to establish Ramarajya where justice is rendered without consideration for the name and fame. Ramayana taught us the richness of valor, dharma, loyalty, mutual respect, bhakti, spirituality, wisdom and Jnana to be followed in daily life to uplift the spirit of human life. The message of Ramayana spread all over Asia and even today its popularity is unabated in countries like Cambodia, Java, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Sumatra, Thailand, Mauritius, Bali and other countries.”

Indians should be taught about the ‘Hindu Holocaust’ when 80 million Hindus were stabbed by Muslims in barabaric slaughter according to the Global Hindu Foundation in a letter to the government of India’s Minister for Human Resources Development (MHRD) Smruti Irani today. Gory and unsubstantiated descriptions of Hindus who refused to convert and who were taken atop the mountains and killed with ‘blood flowing from the mountain to the streets below’ find mention in this letter from this Hyderabad based affiliate of the sangh parivar.

The website of the GHF states that it is aimed towards “ Empowering Hindus- Towards a Hindu Worldview” and the controversial letter dated November 15, 2014 addressed to Smruti Irani, cabinet minister for Human Resources Development, and posted on the home page of savetemples.org, the website of the “Mission to Save Hinduism and Hindu Temples”. Touted as a ‘Project of Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, (GHHF) USA’, the mission operates out of the ‘Save Temple Office’ opened in Hyderabad city in June 2012.

The letter of the GHF, dated November 15, 2014 clearly emboldened by the regime in power in New Delhi, also states that students should be given a realistic picture of the brutal regimes of the past (read Muslim and Christian) when ‘Murthies were broken and remnants of Hindu statues used to build Mosques.” Students should also be taught in schools about how “how many Temples were converted to Mosques, how many Christians are converting the Hindus with deception and allurement, how minority appeasement is affecting the quality education and such similar issues should be addressed. Vast literature dealing with “Islamic onslaught” and “Goa Inquisition” should also be included to know the history of denial of fundamental rights to Hindus.”

The politicised project to completely colour and distort the teaching of the social sciences with a majoritarian and supremacist worldview, one moreover that stokes false hatreds against Muslims and Chritisans is in tune with the Shiksha Bachao Andolan (SBA) project run by Dinanath Batra.

Other subjects that the GHF feels should be taught to students through government run schools”

Great Saints of India

“…School books should include the history, message and glory of great saints of India such as Adi Sankara, Madhvacharya, Ramanujacharya, Meerabai, Kabir, Tukaram, Eknath, Gnaneswar, Namdev, Bhagawan Nityananda, Satya Saibaba, Sri Pada Vallabha, Narasimha Swamy, Samarth Ramdas, Veda Vyasa, Valmiki, Sri Aurobindo, Muktananda, Gorakhnad, Sri Prabhupada, Chinmayananda, Ramana Maharishi Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda and host of others. They have kept alive the richness of our culture in spite of the attempts destroy the ancient civilization.

“…The saints have played significant role in the preservation propagating the ideas and philosophies that were necessary to bring unity and much needed reforms to bring the appropriate changes in the society. Considering the Mughal domination of the India, the saints veered and helped bhaktas toward Bhakti marga, the path of devotion, instead encouraging them to conduct Temples pujas, especially North India.

Hindu Temples – History and relevance

“It is time to know the power, energy, and vibrations present in Hindu Temples. They are the place of worship where devotees worship their chosen Gods at different times day in and day out. Devotees go to the Hindu Temples to experience the infinite divine power through their individual prayers as well as collective worship. Hindu Temples have been built over more than twenty centuries providing opportunity to practice their social, religious and cultural milieu. Each Temple is dedicated to one of the manifestation of infinite power of the unfathomable divinity of the Almighty. Every Temple will have a sanctum sanctorum with a presiding Deity who represents the power and energy of GOD. Hindus believe that God is ever powerful, all pervasive, everywhere and everything is in God.

“…The Hindu Temples have served as centers of learning and knowledge; foci for social gathering; institutes for art, dance and music; hubs for upholding the dharmic values; nucleus for peace and nonviolence; lighthouses for philosophy and spirituality, cornerstones for worship services; promoters of age old, time tested universal values; institutes for yoga and meditation; holy places for conducting different festivals and rituals; and nexus for expressing devotion through music, singing and chanting; and centers for social services.

Gomata

“…Cow is revered, respected and honored and is regarded as a holy mother. Cows milk is light and easily digestible for a child. Its products such as milk, ghee, urine, cow dung and curd, and are considered sacred and has many medicinal values that improve the health of the humans and purifies the climate. Cow is considered as Kamadhenu (wish fulfilling Deity).

Lord Krishna worshipped cows, used to play flute that attracted the cows and used assemble around him.

“…All the scriptures such as Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas, Mahabharata, Manusmriti, and others extoll the virtues of the cow. All the Gods reside in her and killing her is considered the most heinous crime. It is often said “jivantu avadghnyah ta me vishasya dushanih” meaning that let cows live without slaughter for their whole life-they remove poison and toxins. Many sages, many Hindu Temples and numerous Ashrams maintained Goshalas (cow shelters) for centuries recognizing the numerous benefits that accrue from the cows.

The ancient ‘Hindu Past’, its ways of relating between men and women and the Scientific achievements of Ancient India are the values that should be taught in Central government schools today.

In a detailed letter written to the Minister for Human Resources Development (MHRD) Smruti Irani today, November 15, 2014, the Hyderabad based Global Hindu Foundation (GHF), has, taking a leaf out of Dinanath Batra’s nine books being taught as Supplemenatry materials to four hundred thousand students in Gujarat’s schools, urged the Modi government to take this model of teaching to the nation. This letter has been posted on the home page of savetemples.org, the website of the “Mission to Save Hinduism and Hindu Temples”. Touted as a ‘Project of Global Hindu Heritage Foundation, (GHHF) USA’, the mission operates out of the ‘Save Temple Office’ opened in Hyderabad city in June 2012.

Apart from the exhortations to teach Nathuram Godse as a ‘National Hero who fought the British’, and unsubstantiated details about a ‘Hindu holocaust by Muslims, this letter states that the following subjects should be taught in Central government schools:

Mahabharata

“…Mahabharata is one of the greatest epics and every single character teaches us the richness of our culture and traditions, morals and ethics that surpass the time. Numerous are the characters and numerous are the lessons one can learn from Mahabharata. Yudhishtira taught us how to follow dharma in face of numerous difficulties also the weakness of (gambling) that can bring down the kingdom; Bhishma taught us how to fulfill the wishes of his father and sacrificed his life as well as keeping his word for the rest of life and maintain celibacy; King Santanu taught us danger of yielding to sensate pleasure and the weakness toward other sex; Karna taught us the consequences of blind loyalty and passion for power as well as the generous nature of dana (gift); Dhritarashtra taught us how blind love for children can cause untold misery and destruction for the humanity, also how passion for children can smog the moral and impartial judgment; Draupadi taught us how even a small weakness resulted ….can… lead to war of destruction and also taught us how to behave with the husbands; and other characters such as Pandu, Veda Vyasa, Kunti, Dushyasana, Shikhandi, Satyavati and others were equally important in teaching us the morals and code of conduct.
“….. Finally the teaching of Bhagavad Gita by Lord Krishna to Arjuna about the responsibility of a Kshatriya and in general about Swadharma is unmatched humanity in recognizing the importance of Sthitipragna.

Puranic Stories and Morals

“In Naimisharanya, the assembled sages worshipped the learned Romaharshana and said, “Please tell us the stories of the Puranas. Who created the universe, who is its preserver and who will destroy it? Please instruct us in all these mysteries.” There are 18 main Puranas and18 upapuranas that describe the various aspects of cosmology and are considered the storehouse of stories that enriched with morals and traditions; manifestations of (dasavataras) Vishnu incarnations, and the paths of karma, bhakti and Jnana yogas. In fact they even described the origin of the universe, life cycles, trials, tribulations and richness of human life, respect for living and nonliving elements and scientific nature of the universe. They talk about the worship services, numerous samskaras, formation of earth, and mathematical expressions of the universe. They give us the experiences of people through their stories, symbols and rituals. Every community has its own reality, but underneath all these realities there is an underlying theme governing the basic principles and morals that guide the human life.

Panchatantra Stories

Panchatantra is a collection stories that teach us how to behave in a particular situation; how to solve the problems one faces; whom to trust and not to trust; how to keep your word against all odds; how to use your intellect instead of arms; how to avoid distrust among friends; how one should not deny the shelter to a needy person; how one should work toward accumulation of wealth and how to protect it; and how one should share their wealth and to whom.

The Scientific achievements

“…It is time to create pride among our youth about our scientific achievements. It was the Yogic seers who invented many mathematical calculations such as Zero, Decimals, Phi, Geometry, Algebra, computer language and more. Arbyabhatta was the champion of Astronomy and Mathematics, Bhaskaracharya was the genius of Algebra, Acharya Kanad was the founder of Atomic Theory, Naragrjuna was the wizard of Chemical Science, Acharya Charaka was the father of Medicine, Acharya Sushruta was the champion of Plastic Surgery, Varahamihra was the eminent Astronomer and Astrology, Patanjali was the father of Yoga Sutras, Acharya Bharadwaja was the pioneer of Aviation Technology, Acharya Kapila was the father of cosmology, and many more.”

A look at state of higher education under Smriti Irani

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The more things change…the more they remain the same. That seems to be the case of the new govt’s vision for higer education

smriti-irani

by Purushottam Agrawal

The minister for human resource development, Smriti Irani, along with her mandarins and the vice-chancellors of all central universities was in a two-day retreat in September in Chandigarh. It is not surprising that the electronic media neither reported nor discussed the event. After all, it has fast ‘evolved’ from infotainment to unabashed comedy and live cockfighting. But, it did come as a surprise that this meeting was not reported adequately even in large sections of the print media.

Well, in defence of our journalistic class, one has to say nothing dramatic or curious happened at this retreat. Given Modi’s ballistic campaigning and general pretence that his government is different from all regimes independent India has seen (after all, ‘nothing’ happened in 60 years), the media was probably looking for some dramatic departures, some important disjunctions from the UPA policy framework on education.

What we got instead was smooth continuity, informed by a mindless technocracy, as far as the higher education policy is concerned.

From the point of view of the future of our higher education, this continuity of perspective is very important. Departures would, of course, have been interesting, but continuity is curious, to say the least. One recalls the great detective who reminded Inspector Gregory, while working on ‘The silver Blaze’ case, that the fact that the dog did nothing in the night-time was in fact the curious incident.

The continuity of UPA and NDA policies in many areas is becoming increasingly clear. In case of education the consensus amongst the ‘forward looking’ ruling elite had become clear decades ago when the nomenclature of the ministry was changed from education to HRD. Now, the state is not looking at educating its citizens, it is not investing in human individuals; rather it is investing in a resource which happens to be human.

The liberal framework gave way to the managerial one even without a whimper in political circles, just as education was sought to be reduced to science, technology and management. In fact, there is little scope in such an approach even for science in its fundamental sense. There is hardly any enthusiastic encouragement from the official side for fundamental and ‘non-pragmatic’ research in science. For the ruling elite, corporate bosses and most of the middle class these days, science is nothing but a euphemism for useful technology.

Another shared trait between the NGO-friendly, ‘inclusive’ UPA government and the ‘no-nonsense’ nationalist one under PM Modi is the obsession with controlling everything and propagating the great ideal of ‘one size fits all’, in the sphere of ‘human resource development’. The present minister, while paying lip service to the idea of autonomy of universities, still got a draft ‘single Act’ for all central universities circulated for ‘suggestions’. This Act is based on the recommendations of the Pathan committee, which was formed in 2013 (when Kapil Sibal was the HRD minister) with the clear mandate of suggesting ways of implementing the ministerial motto of ‘one size fits all’ and had recommended, inter alia, doing away with the office of chancellor, and having in its place a council of vice-chancellors headed by, no prizes for guessing, the minister for HRD! There is not even the veneer of autonomy here: the government must control all aspects of university life.

Another brain wave, ostensibly egalitarian and democratic (and common to UPA and NDA dispensations) is to have common admission and common curriculum for all the central universities in order to facilitate student and faculty mobility. Again, the idea of only technology and management being worthy of any serious consideration is implicit here. In the field of humanities and social sciences, it will be an extremely harmful step. Even in science, technology and management, the inclinations and orientations of various departments do and should influence their research programmes and priorities.

In social sciences and humanities, at any rate, interpretations matter a lot, and institutions of higher learning make their distinct mark by offering different interpretations to the same or similar data. This diversity of views and approaches enlivens the field of knowledge and enriches the collective wisdom of society. In education systems the world over, individual teachers are encouraged to offer new courses and identify new focus areas in the ongoing teaching programmes every semester. In contrast, our political and administrative bosses want 40 central universities to teach the same text, same poets, same set of research questions, same priorities to each and every student. If, by ‘common curriculum’, something else is meant, I would love to be enlightened.

Sibal also has to his credit the great idea of appointing vice-chancellors through advertisements and interviews. There is a world of difference between someone being nominated without having applied, and someone getting through after an interview. The supreme court has categorically stated that notwithstanding the funding from government, the relationship between the government and university professors and vice-chancellors is not that of master and servant. Under the guidance of Sibal, for the newly established central universities, the nomination method was replaced with selection method in order to make the master-servant point in a subtle psychological manner to be followed with legal steps in due course. Once the idea of a single act and a council headed by the minister, governing the matters of all central universities is put to practice, the Sibalian dream of ‘one size fits all’ would be happily realised. The gods of efficiency and good governance would have slain the demons of independent and critical research and teaching.

If she wants to reform education, Irani would do well to break from this Sibalian mould. Participating in a couple of TV debates about her suitability as the minister of HRD, as she does not possess higher degrees, I had made two points. First, in any democracy, ministers are supposed to provide direction and perspective, and this has nothing to do with higher degrees. In fact, the question of formal qualification is more pertinent in the context of high-level bureaucrats, i.e., IAS officers, who having passed one examination in life supposedly acquire expertise on everything from agricultural policy to rocketry to the finer points of pedagogy. Incidentally, in the mid 1950s, the administration in the education ministry was headed by a professor. Maulana Azad, as education minister, had appointed the distinguished academic Prof. Humayun Kabir as education secretary. It would be interesting to know when and how the IAS lobby captured this position. Irani may look at the idea of reviving the practice of having experts run higher education in the country.

The second point was about the standards of education. I believe that no human being can create more drift and confusion in our education system than what has been achieved by US-trained top-class ‘intellectuals’ under the benign guidance of Manmohan Singh. Irani can only take things in a better direction, provided she chooses to act differently and see through the designs of control-freak bureaucrats.

But, given the convergence of thinking on higher education between UPA and NDA as reflected during the Chandigarh retreat, one is probably asking for the moon.

The story appeared in November 1-15, 2014 issue of Governance Now.

Education & teaching in an de-intellectualised and obedient society – Interview with Apoorvanand

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Since the new government has come to power, there are continuous attacks on education in order to saffronize it. The history of the national movement is being re-written to manufacture an RSS role, which did not exist in the struggles against British rule. Dinanath Batra’s books, already a part of the Gujarat curriculum, are sought now to be introduced at the national level. He is same Dinanath Batra, from whose books, Modi drew “inspiration” to prove that in Mahabharata times, India had discovered genetic engineering and plastic surgery! Subramanian Swami wants book burning, starting with books of secular historians like Romila Thapar. RSS leaders have recently met HRD Minister Smriti Irani to discuss revision of text books. Education is being used as a tool to create communal divide.

Newsclick interviews Professor Apoorvanand of Delhi University on this communal attack on Indian history and education.

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