New Delhi: The Lok Sabha saw a rare exchange of ideas from both the treasury and opposition benches on the role of ideology and the constitution in deciding policy during the discussion on the demands for grants for the education ministry after opposition members raised questions about the increasing interference in the education sector, declining academic freedom and reduced budgetary allocations for premier institutions in the country.
While opposition members said that the constitution should be the only guiding force, setting aside any political ideology, members of the treasury benches sought to differentiate between constitutional thinking and ideology.
In his reply to the discussion on Thursday (August 1), Union minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan responded to questions raised by the opposition members about ideology influencing education policy in the country.
“A lot of members with aggression said that you view things from the lens of a particular ideology. I have said this before and I want to reiterate again. In 1835, Macauley told the British parliament that India is a strange country that cannot be won over easily until we destroy its culture. That is why we have to bring in a Western gaze. This was Macauley’s recommendation. That is why in the 21st century we have to bring in Indianness. To take Tiruvalluvar across the country is Indianness. Incorporating the thoughts of Sri Aurobindo in today’s education is Indianness. Indianness is our ideology,” he said.
Speaker Om Birla then interjected and said that any government that is in power runs on an ideology.
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi disagreed immediately and rose to say that his only ideology is the constitution.
“My ideology is the constitution. I am taking an oath on the constitution. What use is Golwalkar’s ideology? It’s of no use,” he said.
Following Owaisi’s remarks, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said that every political party takes its ideology to the people through its manifesto.
“The people then vote on the basis of ideology and to implement that is the work of the government. We believe in the constitution. All political parties believe in the constitution. But the constitution and ideology are different,” he said.
Birla then opened the floor to allow other members to speak, and Samajwadi Party MP Lalji Verma then stood up to say that he too believed that the only ideology should be “constitutional thinking”.
However, Birla interjected and said, “We are not talking about the constitution. Constitutional ideals are the same.”
“We will work according to the constitution and its core values will not be diluted. That should be our objective,” said Verma.
Acknowledging the rare exchange of ideas in the House, Birla said that the Lok Sabha should also function to allow members to express their thoughts and gave the floor to BJP MP Sambit Patra.
“I agree with the speaker that all parties go to the people with their ideology and the people vote on the basis of that. The reason behind this is that the constitution is the sea where all ideologies mix, whether it is our ideology or theirs,” said Patra.
As Birla said that the Indian constitution alone respects all thoughts, opposition benches could be heard saying that the treasury benches don’t agree.
“Political parties are born out of an ideology but governance is on the basis of the constitution,” said Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal.
Pradhan then resumed his speech and lauded the Speaker for bringing in new traditions in the House where thoughts and ideas could be exchanged and said this embodies democracy.
“India is the mother of democracy. Evidence of democratic provisions has been found in the inscriptions of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu in the fourth century. This is the civilisation of my India and this is my ideology. I come from the land of Mahaprabhu Jagannath. Mahaprabhu Jagannath is my identity. In our civilisation, the status of women has always been high. We are people who worship Ardhanarishwar. This is our ideology,” he said.
Earlier, during the discussion opposition members had raised questions about the deteriorating condition of the education sector while the treasury benches lauded the Narendra Modi government’s achievements.
Congress MP Anto Antony during his speech highlighted the decreasing allocation to premier educational institutions like IITs and IIMs.
“How can we expect to become a knowledgeable society if we do not provide adequate resources for education?” he said.
Antony said that while fees for premier institutions like IITs and IIMs have been increased since 2014, their budgetary allocations have decreased. He added that an “atmosphere of fear that pervades in all walks of life in the country is in the education sector also.”
“The students and teachers of this country are not free to express their opinions. Great centres of learning when there is an atmosphere for independent research,” he said.
TMC MP Sougata Roy during his speech said that the RSS should stop interference in education.
“I want to request the education minister, I am told that you have influenced in the RSS. Why don’t you persuade the RSS to stop interference in education,” he said as treasury benches started raising protests.
“There was a VC in Vishwabharati by name Bidyut Chakraborty he put a plaque.. in Rabindranath (Tagore)’s Shantiniketan.. he wrote only his name and Narendra Modi’s name. This is a shame. You have one Jagadish Kumar. He was an IIT engineer and he was made chairman of the UGC. Why? Because of the recommendation of the RSS.”
AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi in his speech highlighted that the dropout rates for Muslims were higher than in other communities, vacancies in teaching positions and also pointed to deletions from school textbooks like the 2002 Gujarat riots and the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
“NCERT has removed the reference to Babri Masjid, 2002 riots. Why should people not learn from the mistakes of the past? Should our children not learn of the Gujarat, Godhra massacre of minority Muslims? Those who ignore history’s mistakes are bound to repeat them,” he said.
