BJP’s move to have Bhagavad Gita taught in schools is retrogressive

By Christopher Isaac

BANGALORE (Jan. 31)—The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Karnataka state government recently announced its intention to introduce the Bhagavad Gita in schools across the state, propagating the Hindutva (Hinduness) ideology of the party.

Although the plan had originally been announced last year, when B.S. Yeddyurappa was chief minister, the implementation of the idea had been shelved when he was indicted by the Karnataka Lokayukta court for his alleged involvement in the illegal mining scam.

However, while speaking at the Bhagavad Gita Abhiyan early in January, current Chief Minister Sadananda Gowda once again announced that the government was indeed still considering introducing the Gita into primary and secondary schools, adding that it would be done while seeking public opinion as well.

The announcement, expectedly, garnered heavy opposition from a lot of fronts, including the Dalit activist group Karnataka Dalit Sangarsh Samiti, which staged a protest rally a few days after the chief minister’s statements.

The Bhagavad Gita is defended by the state government as a teaching of a universal way of life that helps spread the message of humanity, with K.H. Muniyappa, union minister of state for railways, saying that the Gita’s lessons would “strengthen students’ minds at a very young age.”

While many members of the public have already voiced their opposition of the idea, what’s even more surprising is the number of people who actually want schools to introduce the Gita and other such religious texts in schools.

In November, Shivraj Singh, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, announced plans to introduce the Gita in schools across Madhya Pradesh as well. Opposition leaders from the Congress and other minorities immediately protested against Singh’s statement, not because they didn’t want the Gita to be introduced, but because they wanted other religious texts, including the Kran and the Bible in schools as well.

The Catholic Bishop’s Council in Madhya Pradesh called for a public interest litigation against the introduction of the Geeta Sar, the Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, into schools. Instead of taking the case up, the high court rejected the PIL petition saying the Gita is a vehicle for “Indian philosophy” and not a religious text.

No matter how much the BJP and its allies try to argue that the Gita isn’t religious text, the fact stands that the book preaches about the philosophies and ideologies that the Hindu religion teaches its followers to pursue.

Such open acts of pro-Hindu activism, though they may gain the favor of a set of right-wing Hindus, only damage the reputation of the BJP, canceling out any kind of progressive stances and developments it has made in recent times. This also goes against the very fundamental principle of India calling itself a secular country.

The public needs to make its voice heard and make decisions that will help their children as well as the country grow and develop into a secular, modern and sovereign entity.