Bindu described the vice chancellors’ involvement as “disturbing” and a “dangerous alignment with forces that aim to undermine Kerala’s progressive educational values.”
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Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu on Monday strongly criticised the participation of university vice chancellors in the Jnana Sabha, an educational conference organised by Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas, an organisation affiliated with the RSS. The event was also attended by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Bindu described the vice chancellors’ involvement as “disturbing” and a “dangerous alignment with forces that aim to undermine Kerala’s progressive educational values.”
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“Our educational institutions include students from diverse communities, and we cannot allow these spaces to become preparation grounds for building a Hindu Rashtra,” the minister said in a strongly worded statement.
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She warned that aligning with the RSS’s ideological agenda would tarnish the credibility of the vice chancellors’ positions. “Those who participated in the Jnana Sabha will now have to lower their heads before the academic community,” she said.
On Sunday, vice chancellors and faculty from several Kerala universities attended the national education conclave in Ernakulam.
The event, organised by Shiksha Sanskriti Utthan Nyas (SSUN), the education wing of the RSS, focused on two themes: “Indianisation in education to reclaim the value of Indian education from colonial influence” and the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Four vice chancellors from Kerala took part in the event Dr. Mohanan Kunnummal (Kerala Health Sciences University), Prof. P. Raveendran (University of Calicut), Prof. Saju K.K. (University of Kannur), and Prof. A. Biju Kumar (Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies).
Addressing the Jnana Sabha at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said Viksit Bharat should be economically strong and contribute to global development.
“India should grow strong and economically powerful. Viksit Bharat will not attack any country. In fact, we have never conquered any nation in history,” he stated.
Speaking on the theme of Bharatiyata in Education, Bhagwat emphasised that India should retain its cultural and civilisational identity.
“‘Bharat’ is a proper noun and should not be translated. Will you translate the name ‘Gopal’ to ‘cowherd’ in English? Our identity is rooted in tradition. Preserving it will earn us respect. Bharat should remain ‘Bharat’—in writing and in speech. A lion is respected in the wild, not in the circus,” he remarked.
ENDS
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