The controversial Kalpa Yojna ... on December 5 was not about just Saraswati Vandana and Vande Mataram. As envisaged by the Uttar Pradesh Government, it meant major changes in syllabus and daily routine of schools.
... Within a month of its promulgation in July this year, the scheme was in place in more than 5,000 of the total 1.25 lakh primary schools in the state. Teachers had been imparted special training for the purpose. But for the fatwa issued by Maulana Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi ... to his followers to withdraw their wards from schools run by the Uttar Pradesh Government, the Kalpa Yojna would have gone on to cover others schools as well.
Under the scheme, all state government schools would in effect become "Saraswati Shishu Mandir", which are urn throughout the country by Vidya Bharati, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) outfit. Among other things, the singing of Saraswati Vandana during the morning assembly and Vande Mataram at the end of the day would become compulsory ...
The schools would also have a Bal Bharati, consisting of a president, vice-president, secretary, deputy secretary, Senapati (commander) and up-senapati (deputy commander). The Yojna also envisaged naming of classrooms in schools after great leaders (their names figured in a list attached as an annexure to the Kalpa Yojna draft). These classrooms were supposed to display a portrait of the leader after whom they were named as well as anecdotes from his life.
It included: RSS founder Dr. Hegdewar, Vir Savarkar, Subhash Chandra Bose, Shyama Prasad Mookerji (founder of Jan Sangh) ... and Din Dayal Upadhyay - among the great leaders; Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Ramtirtha, Swami Ram Krishna Paramhans, Swami Vivekanand, Madan Mohan Malviya, Mahatshi Arvind, Ishwar Chand Vidyasagar and Ram Mohan Rai - among the social reformers; and Namdev, Tukaram, Sant Gyaneshwar, Shankaracharya, Ballabhacharya, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and Sant Hari Das - among the poets.
Though a number of freedom fighters, some former prime ministers and presidents and personalities like Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi also found a mention, the list had a predominant saffron tinge.
The list of quotations supplied with the Kalpa Yojna cited stray sentences from the Bible and occasional quotes of Hazrat Ali or Mahatma Gandhi, but a long list of Sanskrit shlokas from the Vedas and Upanishad.
One of the clauses even made it mandatory for students to chant "Bhojan Mantra" during recess.
The other instructions were: "Portraits of Ma Saraswati and Bharat Mata be kept in a respectful manner during morning prayers and during dispersal of the school ... The portraits should be properly decorated." The clause detailing the procedure for morning prayers, interval and dispersal was titled "Vandana, Madhyavkash and Visarjan."
Even the architects of scheme not "experts" - were ... proponents of the RSS ideology. The team was led by Shukla himself, who is an RSS pracharak ... Another "expert" on the Yojna committee was also an RSS full- timer, Radhey Shyam Pandey.
In the preamble of the Yojna draft, Shukla wrote: "The Yojna envisages school as a family. The school family will be expected to prepare a draft scheme to achieve physical and educational aims, the progress of which will be monitored by officials of the Education Department. The SCERT will draft a detailed outline of curriculum and extra-curricular activities to be performed every month. The draft will be made available to every schools to be performed every month. The draft will be made available to every school by the third week of every month through a magazine ...
However, with the scheme backfiring, almost everyone is denying responsibility. Shukla says ... "I only asked children to have regular prayers, not necessarily Saraswati Vandana. Even the (government order) issued in April 1997 (during Mayawati's chief ministerhip) asks school administration to make children 'Ish Vandana' (prayer to God) ..
However, Shukla sticks to the demand for Vande Mataram, saying: "There is no outcry when the song is sung at the beginning of every Parliament and Assembly session, among others by Muslim MPs ... The song finds a mention in the Constitution as well.(sic). So why such a hue and cry is being raised when I made it mandatory for our children ... Those opposing it are unpatriotic.
Chief Minister Kalyan Singh ... washes his hands of too. He agrees that there was no mention of Saraswati Vandana in either the Yojna or any government order, but says the Vandana mentioned to be performed before a portrait of Goddess Saraswati has to be Saraswati Vandana.
Kalyan has .. claimed that ... Shukla had not taken him into confidence (who has) issued an order on November 5, 1997 making worship of "Bharat Mata" compulsory in government schools in Uttar Pradesh, and that he had had to withdraw the order after a controversy erupted. ... The five-day chintan baithak (conclave) of the Sangh at Nagpur ... most participants justified the decision to make Vande Mataram compulsory in schools and decided to take the matter up with top BJP leaders ... (Source: The Indian Express, 17 December, 1998)
