Rajasthan education board includes chapter by ex-RSS chief in syllabus, triggers storm

Jodhpur: Rajasthan's Board of Secondary Education's decision to include a chapter 'Dhara aur Paryavaran' (Earth and the Environment) penned by late RSS chief KS Sudarshan to be taught in the Class 11 syllabus has triggered a political storm in the state.

The inclusion of the green chapter in the Rajasthan school syllabus has prompted the Congress-led Opposition to see shades of red and saffron.

The Congress part has termed the decision as the alleged ''saffronisation of education'' by the ruling BJP government.

Penned by Sudarshan, the chapter 'Dhara aur Paryavaran' will be taught in the Class 11 syllabus in government schools across the state.

Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee secretary Mahendra Singh Ralawata has alleged that ever since the BJP government came into power in the state, it has been trying to saffronise education.

The state education committee, however,has rejected the Congress charge.

It says that the chapter by the former RSS Sarsanghachalak has no link to politics or any saffronised views. The committee chairman Ashish Sisodia says that Sudarshan penned his thoughts purely as a writer and his role as RSS chief had no bearing on subject.

This chapter had been introduced in 1998 as well but was removed after the political heat it generated.

This controversy comes in the backdrop of Union Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani asking Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to teach Sanskrit language.