The privatisation of Sainik Colleges by the Bharatiya Janata Occasion-led authorities on the Centre is a “blatant step to politicise” the impartial establishments, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge mentioned in a letter to President Droupadi Murmu, the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces, on Wednesday.
Kharge’s letter cited a report by The Reporters’ Collective that discovered that the Centre had awarded 40 Sainik College agreements to academic institutes linked with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, different Hindutva organisations and leaders of the BJP or its allies, between 2022 and 2023.
The report was primarily based on an evaluation of Proper to Data replies.
Sainik Colleges are managed by the Sainik Colleges Society, an autonomous physique underneath the Ministry of Defence. They supply almost 20% of cadets who enroll within the Nationwide Defence Academy and the Indian Naval Academy.
Earlier than 2022, the Centre and the state governments had been collectively working 33 Sainik Colleges. In October 2021, the BJP-led authorities on the Centre allowed personal gamers to function their very own branches.
In his letter to Murmu, Kharge mentioned that out of the 40 agreements that had been signed, 62% had been with people and organisations linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Bharatiya Janata Occasion or Sangh Parivar and demanded that scheme be rolled again in order that “youngsters finding out at Armed Forces Colleges retain desired character, imaginative and prescient and honour required for the service of the nation”.
“I ask if this has been effected to ideologically indoctrinate Armed Forces on the entry degree,” Kharge additionally mentioned. “No political celebration has ever carried out this, as there’s basic nationwide consensus to maintain the valour and braveness of our Armed Forces away from partisan politics.”
My letter to the Hon’ble President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) on the blatant step by Modi Govt to politicise the impartial Sainik Colleges, and signal MoUs with the vast majority of BJP and Sangh Parivar leaders, on this regard.
Sharing the textual content of the letter –
1. You’re conscious,… pic.twitter.com/X7iABJvuI1
— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) April 10, 2024
What did the report say?
In keeping with The Reporters’ Collective, at the least 40 personal faculties signed memoranda of settlement with the Sainik Colleges Society between Might 05, 2022 and December 27, 2023, of which 11 are owned by BJP leaders, managed by trusts that they chair, or belong to mates and political allies of the Hindutva celebration.
Eight faculties are managed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the mother or father physique of the BJP, and its allied organisations. Six faculties have shut ties to Hindutva organisations or far-right leaders and different Hindu spiritual organisations, in keeping with The Reporters’ Collective.
The BJP authorities awarded Sainik College agreements to Hindu nationalist ideologue Ritambhara’s Samvid Gurukulam Women Sainik College in Vrindavan and Raj Luxmi Samvid Gurukulam in Solan, in keeping with the report. They’re being touted as India’s first navy faculties for ladies.
Ritambhara is the founding father of the Durga Vahini, the ladies’s wing of the Hindutva group Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and was a key determine within the Ram Janmabhoomi motion. On the inauguration of the college on January 2, defence minister Rajnath Singh highlighted the “important contribution” of Ritambhara to the Ram Janmabhoomi motion.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s academic wing, the Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan, has been awarded seven Sainik College agreements. The Vidya Bharati Akhil Bharatiya Shiksha Sansthan’s web site says that it needs to “construct a youthful era which is dedicated to Hindutva and infused with patriotic fervour.”
Nasik’s Bhonsala Army College, which was established in 1937 by the Hindu right-wing ideologue BS Moonje and is now run by the Central Hindu Army Training Society, was additionally accepted to function as a Sainik College, The Reporters’ Collective discovered.
It has been alleged by the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad that individuals accused within the 2006 Nanded Bomb Blast and the 2008 Malegaon blasts educated at Bhonsala Army College.