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The Rediff Special/Virendra Kapoor

Educating Murli Manohar Joshi

Some people are condemned to make a hash of things. Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi is one such. He messed up things pretty badly as the Bharatiya Janata Party chief some years ago. Now he is determined to mess up the country's education ministry.

Even his deputy, sanayasin Uma Bharati, the minister of state for education, wouldn't have tried to push through a wholly partisan agenda in the two-day meet of the state education ministers as he did. It is a different matter that the know-all Joshi marginalised Bharati early on in his current ministerial stint.

The state education ministers, including those from parties allied with the BJP in New Delhi, behaved true to form. After all, you can't expect the representatives from West Bengal or Bihar -- yes, they still have education ministers in those blighted states, even if, for all practical purpose, education is non-existent there -- to applaud the injection of Hindutva in the syllabi of schools and universities. They weren't at all happy at teaching spiritual values in schools, especially when they want the recital of Marx's mantra and Laloo-chalisa within their respective boundaries.

Make no mistake about it. The Marxists have absolutely corrupted the education system in West Bengal. The syllabus is fully oriented towards the glorification of their failed ideology; educational institutions are packed with Marxist cadres who are expected to work for the party even if they are unable to justify their upkeep by tax-payers. Primary schools in West Bengal have virtually become extensions of the Communist Party of India-Marxist. There, little children are indoctrinated with the party's failed dogmas. The CPI-M cadres alone can expect to find teaching jobs in the state's schools and universities.

Dr Joshi would have been fully justified had he chosen to attack the problem of increasing politicisation of education. Instead, he took a leaf out of the Marxist book and tried to inject the virus of Hindutva at the national level.

He made two mistakes. One, he did not reckon with the fact that he is part of a coalition government which is critically dependent on allies who are not exactly enamoured with his Hindutva project. Two, he did not take anyone, including the prime minister, into confidence while seeking to push through his agenda.

Had Dr Joshi been alive to the need to take everyone along, he would have come up with a consensual agenda. Failing that, had he sounded Vajpayee about what he was up to, the latter would have immediately stopped him in his tracks.

Dr Joshi's problem is that he believes he is the repository of all wisdom, that he is in the same league as Vajpayee and Advani and therefore must never ever consult them.

Instead he must keep the RSS bosses, notably Sudershanji, in good humour.

What better way then to please them than to pilot a move that was modelled on the RSS' own Shishu Vidya Mandirs.

It may be laudable to review the study of Sanskrit, but to force it down the throat of unwilling pupils across the country is wholly unacceptable at a time when the accent worldwide is on English. Similarly, none should cavil at the proposal to introduce the teaching of ancient scriptures that are rooted in Indian soil rather than Hindu religion -- but this cannot be done overnight by an official fiat.

Optional rather than compulsory teaching of these hoary tracts would have been less objectionable. Ditto for spiritual, by which one supposes Dr Joshi meant moral, teaching.

For sure, Dr Joshi wouldn't have ended up with egg on his face had he even very vaguely acquainted himself with the prime minister's thinking on imparting value education. "While promoting unity, we should keep in mind our diversity of religion, language and ethnicity. Let every student have an understanding of, and respect for, all the faiths in India and pride in our national culture. There must be no place for religious bigotry and intolerance."

With these sterling sentiments the prime minister inaugurated the state education ministers conference, but Dr Joshi, deaf to the message, plunged headlong into needless confrontation.

Dr Joshi would protest if one said his proposal is questionable. Much of the opposition to his proposals, he would say, is politically motivated.

A strong case could indeed be made for imparting moral education to children in the formative years.

But Dr Joshi's singular failure lay in not anticipating the hostility of the committed anti-BJP sections in the polity and the media. He also erred in not packaging his agenda in a less offensive manner. Small wonder then that the congenitally hostile BJP elements have returned to the canard about Dr Joshi sponsoring the Sangh Parivar's 'hidden agenda'.

The Rediff Specials

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