Gujarat Govt asks schools to read communal weekly

Gujarat Govt asks schools to read communal weekly
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

GANDHINAGAR, JAN 18: The Gujarat Government has done it again. This time, it has issued a circular to all secondary and higher secondary schools in the state to subscribe to a weekly called Sadhana, a hardcore fundamentalist magazine of the Rashtriya Swayamsevek Sangh (RSS). And as if that's not enough, grants will be given to schools to subscribe to the same.

The circular, issued by the State Commissionerate of Schools on December 12, 2000, clearly asks the District Education Officers (DEOs) in all the 25 districts in Gujarat to get the secondary and higher secondary schools to subscribe to the magazine. The circular asks the DEOs to contact the Sadhana Prakashan Trust in Ahmedabad to arrange for the subscription and says the cost of getting the weekly would be included in the approved grants for the schools.

The circular states: "This weekly contains clean and interesting material with great literary values." But, a mere look at any of the issues of Sadhana

leaves no doubts about the values it tries to promote. For instance, the January 13 issue of the weekly spits venom on the Christians and Muslims and even links the madrassas and mosques with the recent incidents in Nepal.

In another issue, it speaks about the "attack of Christian missionaries" and "conversion in the name of religion".

Surprisingly, Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel, when quizzed by reporters on Wednesday, feigned ignorance about any such decisions by his Government and asked the reporters to contact Education Minister Anandiben Patel. When Patel was contacted, she only said "the circular was not compulsory".

Going by the circular, however, there is no room for choice.

Meanwhile, Christian schools in Gandhinagar have decided not to implement it. St Xavier's School, Gandhinagar, principal Fr Hector Pinto said that the magazine was communal and cannot be subscribed.

United Christian Forum for Human Rights convenor Fr Cedric Prakash has called for the circular's withdrawal and expressed his surprise that the State recommends "a magazine which spreads communal hatred and is not consonant with the secular identity of the country".

He told The Indian Express

that the Forum is seeking legal opinion to challenge the circular in a court of law. Fr Cedric Prakash said it is not important whether the circular's implementation is compulsory. "A State Government recommending the weekly to the schools is disturbing enough," he said.

This is the second communal circular of the State Education Department. In August, the BJP Govt had sent circulars to all the Christian missionary schools in the State to provide details about their financial sources and foreign connections. After widespread protests from secular organisations and the media, the Government was compelled to withdraw the circular.