Modi saffronising education: Congress

First, pictures of Swami Vivekananda and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi  were printed in the text books and notebooks of Gujarat State Board schools and now it is visuals of Modi’s pet project - the Statue of Unity.

Modi, who has staked his claim for creating the largest statue on the Narmada Dam of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, had urged people a few days ago to contribute iron for building the statue.

Now, going a step further, his government has printed pictures of the proposed statue on the backpage of Accounts book of Std XI. Neither the BJP nor the state government sees any harm in using the books as a means of propaganda. This is not the first time that the state government is using books or school bags as publicity material. In the previous year, too, during the school enrolment programme called Kanya Kelavani, bags with images of Modi and Vivekananda were distributed to the children.

BJP leader and municipal school board chairman Jagdish Bhavsar said: “No political motive should be seen in it. This is a dream project of the state government, and as there are pictures of Mahatma Gandhi, this should be seen in the same light.” The Congress, which has been critical of Modi’s subtle way of “saffronising education” in the state, was again opposed to this move of the state government.