– Abdul Bari Masoud
New Delhi, April 4: As the Modi government gave 62% of the new Sainik Schools to Sangh Parivar, BJP leaders, and friends, the opposition denounced the government for trying to ‘communalize the armed services’. They say the government must withdraw this move to ensure the national and secular character of the Sainik Schools is maintained.
India’s armed forces receive cadets from Sainik Schools, which are governed by the Defense Ministry. However, the new program trains cadets in the future by using organizations with biased ideologies. Schools affiliated with Muslim, Christian, or other minority religious organizations were not included in a plan to partially privatize Sainik Schools.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) noted with deep concern the report that the BJP-led Union government has facilitated the participation of private players to run Sainik schools in India.
The government came under fire from Congressman Shashi Tharoor for assigning members of Hindutva organizations to oversee 60% of the recently established Sainik schools. This move shows a ‘shocking disregard for the quality of these schools’, said the MP from Thiruvananthapuram.
Reacting to a Reporters’ Collective report, Tharoor slammed the Agniveer scheme and termed it an “assault on professionalism” of the Indian Army.
Posting his reaction on X, Tharoor said, “How on earth can this shameless government compromise India’s national security and its education system in this manner? The #Agniveer scheme is already an assault on the professionalism of our armed forces. Now this compounds the shocking disregard for the standards that have made our sainiks among the most respected in the world. Please withdraw this decision, Rajnath Singh Ji!”
Condemning the move, CPI (M) demanded that the government stop criminalizing Sainik schools.
“This move reinforces the trend of communalizing education and has the potential to profoundly impact the high secular standards of our military establishments. The Polit Bureau demands that the government withdraw this move to ensure the national and secular character of the Sainik Schools is maintained.”
In October 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a cabinet meeting that approved a proposal to run the schools “as an exclusive vertical that will be distinct and different from the existing Sainik Schools of MoD.”
Between 2022 and 2023, the Center awarded 40 Sainik School agreements to educational institutes linked with the RSS, Hindutva organizations, and leaders of the BJP or its allies, as the analysis of Right to Information replies by The Reporters’ Collective has shown.
The Center’s press releases and Right to Information (RTI) responses were compiled, according to the report, and the data “shows a concerning trend.” According to the report’s findings, out of the 40 Sainik School agreements that have been made so far, at least 62% have gone to schools associated with the RSS and its affiliated organizations, BJP politicians, their friends and allies in politics.
Tharoor criticized the Ministry of Defense for choosing RSS affiliates, BJP leaders, and other Hindutva groups, such as Sadhvi Rithambara, to run 60 percent of the new Sainik schools.
A video surfaced on social media in which Hindutva demagogue Sadhvi Ritambhara lectures on moral virtues and runs a school for girls, Samvid Gurukulam Girls Sainik School in Vrindavan. She is the founder of the radical outfit Durga Vahini, VHP’s women’s wing. She was a key figure in the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
