Saurabh Bharadwaj (PTI image)
NEW DELHI: The AAP hit out at the BJP government in Delhi over its plan to teach the origins of RSS under a new education programme, Rashtraneeti (state policy), and questioned whether students will be made aware of the “entire” history of the organisation. Students of Delhi government schools will soon be taught about the RSS under the new curriculum, featuring lessons on freedom fighters including Veer Savarkar, Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Reacting to the development, AAP Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj said, “Will students studying in Delhi govt schools be made aware of the ‘entire’ history of the RSS? Will the future of the country be told that RSS had NO major role in the country’s freedom struggle? Will the students be told that the RSS did NOT support the 1942 Quit India Movement?” In his post on X in Hindi, he also questioned whether students will be told that the RSS headquarters in Nagpur did not have the national tricolour flag for more than five decades. Earlier in the day, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh criticised attempts to glorify the RSS during its centenary year. “Now we hear of the Prime Minister issuing commemorative tickets and of RSS history being introduced into academic syllabi, but there will only be in praise of the RSS, while its betrayal during the freedom movement will be hidden,” he said in a video message posted on X. People of the country must remember that for 52 long years, the RSS did not hoist the national flag at its own headquarters, he charged. “This is an organisation that believes in discrimination. That is why, to this day, it has never appointed a Dalit, backward, tribal or a woman as its chief,” Singh added. As part of the course, Delhi government school children will be taught about the origin and history of the RSS, its ideology and the role of its workers in extending help during natural disasters and the freedom struggle. The lessons also aim to address misconceptions about the organisation.
