INDIA bloc united to prevent RSS controlling education system: Rahul Gandhi
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the country will be destroyed if its education system goes into the hands of the BJP and the RSS
New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said on Monday that despite their ideological differences, the INDIA bloc partners remain united in their resolve to prevent the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from controlling the country’s education system, alleging that such controls would be disastrous for the nation.
“One organisation which is attempting to finish India’s future and India’s education system. The name of that institution, that organisation is Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The truth is that if our education system goes into their hands, which is happening gradually, this country will be destroyed. Nobody in this country will get jobs and this country will be finished,” Gandhi said.
The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha made these remarks while addressing a protest march against the Centre’s education policies and paper leaks led by student organisations of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc led by the Congress party’s students’ wing National Students’ Union of India (NSU) at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
“I am very happy that all student organisations are here because it is your responsibility to tell students that today vice chancellors (VCs) of all universities of India are RSS-dominated. In the time to come, state universities’ VCs will be appointed through RSS nomination. This is dangerous for the country, and we have to stop it...,” Gandhi said.
His comments were in response to the University Grants Commission (UGC) draft on faculty and academic staff appointments and promotions circulated on January 6, which stipulate that the chancellor or visitor of a university will establish a three-member search-cum-selection committee for appointing vice-chancellors. Under this framework, the governor’s nominee would chair the committee, with the other two members appointed by the UGC chairman and the university’s apex body.
“You are the students of INDIA bloc. There can be some ideological differences between us, or in terms of policies. But we will not do any compromise on India’s education system. We will march ahead together step by step and defeat the RSS and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),” he added.
Gandhi’s comments on ideological differences between INDIA bloc parties is notable because, unlike previous sessions where opposition parties held meetings to plan joint strategies against the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), no such meeting of the floor leaders has occurred so far during the ongoing budget session of Parliament. Earlier in January, during the campaigning for Delhi Assembly polls, the fissures in the INDIA bloc came under public glare after senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot called the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) an “opponent”, prompting former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to allege that Congress was “tacitly collaborating” with the BJP. India bloc parties Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Samajwadi Party (SP) had backed AAP in the polls.
In his address, Gandhi also targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that Modi spoke about the Kumbh Mela in Parliament but should also address the youth’s unemployment, “which is the country’s biggest issue”.
“I wanted to tell him (Modi) that it is good to speak on Kumbh Mela, but he should also speak of the future. He should speak against unemployment. Your government has made the youth of this country unemployed, and you should speak about that too. But he does not do that. Because their model is to hand over the country’s resources to Adani and Ambani and the educational institutions to RSS,” he said.
Apart from NSUI, the protest march saw the participation of representatives of 10 students’ organisations bodies, including CPIML’s All India Students Association (AISA), CPI’s All India Students’ Federation (AISF), CPI(M)’s Students’ Federation of India (SFI), RJD’s Chhatra Rashtriya Janata Dal, SP’s Samajwadi Chhatra Sabha and IUML’s Muslim Students Federation among others.
NSUI president Varun Choudhary said that 10 student organisations of the INDIA bloc have submitted a memorandum to Gandhi, highlighting the “devastating impact of the BJP government’s anti-student policies.”
Restoration of students’ union elections in universities; scrapping of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and University Grants Commission (UGC) draft on faculty and academic staff appointments and promotions; stoppage of paper leaks; and timely disbursal of scholarships were among the major demands raised by student leaders during the protest march.
