Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 24: President All India Mahila Congress and AICC spokesperson Shoba Ohja today alleged that BJP was saffronising education system in the country by appointing ‘unqualified blue-eyed’ persons with RSS background, to head premier educational institutions in the country.
Addressing a press conference here today, the AICC leader alleged that Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani was diluting the education sector of the country by appointing ‘unqualified people’ with RSS background to head various top educational institutions across the country. Ohja accused Irani of pursuing a hidden agenda to rewrite history to suit the RSS ideology.
She pointed out that from the last one year it has been observed that Modi Government is working to disintegrate the education sector in the country. Recently, the three directors of IIT Mumbai were shortlisted in few hours out of total 36, which led to the resignation of the Chairman Anil Kakodkar. “It is a glaring example of how Modi Government is playing politics with the premier educational institutions of the country,” she maintained.
The AICC spokesperson accused Smriti Irani and the Minister of State for HRD Ram Shankar Katheria of misguiding people of the country with fake degrees.
“We all know that Smriti Irani has shown a fake degree, she even claimed that she had a degree from Yale University which turned out to be just a course, she attended there as an MP. The MoS in the HRD in the present Government is also facing the charges of producing a fake BA degree,” she added.
Ms Ohja further accused the Modi Government of hatching a conspiracy to disband the University Grants Commission (UGC). “There is a conspiracy going on to disband institutions like the UGC, this Government is hell bent on rewriting the history to suit to the RSS ideology,” she said.
She said the present Government has reduced the budget allocation of various educational schemes introduced by the previous UPA Government.
“Be it the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Mid Day Meal Scheme or the Compulsory Education Schemes launched by the previous Congress-led Government, present dispensation has reduced the budget allocation of all such schemes and imposed a cut of over Rs 14088.59 crore this year,” she remarked.
While targeting the HRD Minister, Ms Ojha said Irani has entered into a ‘cold war’ with the heads of several educational institutions. “She had entered into a cold war with the Vice Chancellor of the Delhi University, but the President of India rejected her allegations against the VC, which was a big slap on the face of the Government and the department,” she maintained.
Accusing the HRD Minister of following a “dictatorial attitude” towards the heads of the premier educational institutions in the country, AICC leader said that Irani was in conflict with almost all the heads of such institutions in the country.
“Be it IIT Delhi, IIT Mumbai or the Delhi University, Irani is trying to dictate her terms on all of them, which seems to be a bigger conspiracy to saffronise the educational setup of the country,” she added.
Referring to the decision of the Modi Government to slash Educational budget, Ohja said besides imposing a cut to the tune of Rs 14,088 crore; this Government has also abolished the scheme for granting Central assistance for setting up of 6000 model schools at block level in the country. She revealed that Elementary Education budget has been reduced by Rs 10,186 crores, Secondary education by Rs 1422 crore and Higher Education by Rs 1479 crores this year in the country.
Senior vice president of PCC Sham Lal Sharma, chief spokesperson PCC Ravinder Sharma, PCC vice president Kanta Bhan and president JK Mahila Congress Indu Pawar were also present.
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