Is Gita a philosophy of life or is associated with any religion? A counsel of a petitioner who challenged the Madhya Pradesh governments order seeking introduction of Gita Sar (essence or gist of Gita) in school books,has two months to read the scripture in entirety and make up his mind. Two months time is granted to the learned counsel for the petitioner to read the whole Gita before arguing this public interest litigation so that he could clearly understand whether the Gita is a philosophy of life or is associated with any religion, a division bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court order said in an interim order passed last week. Catholic Bishops Council through its spokesperson Fr Anand Muttungal had moved the high court last month seeking a direction to the state government to teach a summary of all religions and not any particular religion. Petitioners counsel Rajesh Chand said the petition did not restrict itself only to the epic but has argued that one religion was being given primacy over other religions in violation of the Constitution. The petitioner has listed among other government schemes,Ladli Lakshmi Yojana,Balram Tal Yojana and Kapildhara Yojana,to argue that the nomenclature is inspired only by Hindu mythology,and argues that the state government has failed to project a secular image. The petitioner says that practices like Bhoomi Pujan promote just one religious culture but is a routine government affair. The counsel said the petitioner was not against introduction of Gita Sar or practices like Bhoomi Pujan or social welfare schemes but wanted other religions be given equal prominence in keeping with the idea of a secular India as enshrined in the Constitution.
