Maharashtra govt stops distribution of Bhagwad Gita in colleges after Opposition uproar

Following the uproar in the Assembly, the government stopped the distribution of the book and the CD in the Mumbai region, which has 240 colleges.

Under fire from the Opposition, the state has now stopped distribution of Bhagwad Gita in colleges.

The joint director (Mumbai region), higher education, had, on Wednesday, issued a letter to all colleges in the region, a copy of which is with HT, asking them to collect their copies from his office. (HT File Photo)

A few days ago, the state’s director of higher education had sent letters to its various regional offices, directing them to facilitate disbursal of the Hindu religious scripture, provided for free by a Bhiwandi-based trust, to colleges graded A+ or A by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). The trust also provided a CD on yoga to all the colleges.

The joint director (Mumbai region), higher education, had, on Wednesday, issued a letter to all colleges in the region, a copy of which is with HT, asking them to collect their copies from his office. Following the uproar in the Assembly, the government stopped the distribution of the book and the CD in the Mumbai region, which has 240 colleges, including over 36 A and A+ colleges, said an official. However, all 17 A and A+ colleges in Panvel region have received copies of the book, while all 94 colleges in the region received copies of the CD, said another official.

“The directorate’s order tramples upon the Constitution... The government shouldn’t play with the future of students and the Constitution,” said Sachin Bansode, president, Chhatra Bharti Student Organisation, Mumbai.

Last month, the government decided to distribute a book written by Prashant Pol, national head of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) Vishwa Samvada Kendra (VSK) to 12,000 public libraries in Maharashtra, setting aside ₹14.21 lakh for the project. Earlier this year, it decided to purchase more than 16 lakh copies of 50 titles published by Bhartiya Vichar Sadhana (BVS), a Pune publisher alleged to be close to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), for school libraries for ₹8.18 crore. Last year, the state bought 10,000 copies of writings by RSS ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay, each work spreading into 15 separate volumes for public libraries, for ₹4 crore.