“Education Policy Used As Weapon To Communalise”: Rahul Gandhi

Rahul Gandhi said the education policy is being “used as a weapon to communalise and push a particular ideology” into Indian society.

Criticising the centre for introducing the National Education Policy 2020 without consulting teachers and students, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said it is being “used as a weapon to communalise and push a particular ideology” into Indian society.

While interacting with college professors at St Xavier’s College in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, Mr Gandhi said: “An education system is for our students and it is run by our teachers. If we are going to have any policy made for the education system, then, it has to come from a conversation with students and professors. Unfortunately, this was not done.”

“There is too much power is being centralised in one institution (in the NEP). This is going to damage the education system. The positive side is that it is reasonably flexible on many counts but is a weapon to communalise, to push a particular ideology into Indian society,” the Wayanad MP said.

When the Congress party comes to power in the state, they would push for scholarships in education, Mr Gandhi said.

“I don’t believe that education should be only for financially strong people. When we (Congress) come to power, we are going to push for scholarships in education,” he stressed.

Responding to a question regarding the separation of religion and politics, the Gandhi scion slammed the ruling BJP, saying, “You don’t want to necessarily remove religion from the discourse. You want all religions to be part of it. As long as ideas are competing without hatred and anger, there is no problem. The problem is when you tell someone that you cannot open your mouth because you are from a certain religion.”

“The Government of India says that they represent Hinduism but a lot of the ideas they espouse have nothing to do with Hinduism. Nowhere does it say ‘insult, kill people’,” Mr Gandhi said.