Rajasthan govt drops Deendayal Upadhyay's name from school test, BJP says Congress is scared

The Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan has dropped the name of RSS ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay's name from a school scholarship test. This has left the BJP fuming in the state. The party has said Congress is scared of Deendayal.

The Rajasthan government's latest move has triggered a fresh controversy.

The Ashok Gehlot government's move came close on the heels of RSS ideologue Vinayak Damodar Savarkar being described as 'Son of Portugal' in the social science book for Class 10.

The state government dropped Upadhyay's name from the scholarship test, arguing that the previous BJP government had named the test after the RSS ideologue without any reason.

"The former BJP government had added the name of Deendayal Upadhyay with the talent search test for no reasons, therefore the name has now been dropped," said state Education Minister Govind Singh Dotasara.

BJP leaders have said the Congress government is scared and will now drop Deendayal's name from all schemes. The BJP also accused the government of decreasing the number of chapters on Deendayal Upadhyay in schoolbooks.

The Congress has said that the previous BJP government had saffronised the education system in Rajasthan and they are now trying to rectify it.

The move prompted the state's former education minister Vasudev Devnani to accuse the government of targeting RSS ideologues repeatedly.

"There are many schemes and programmes in names of various Congress leaders but removing the name of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay from the scholarship test reflects the narrow-mindedness of the Congress government," said Devnani.

He said the Congress was taking decisions like removing names of RSS ideologues from various programmes and revising the curriculum of school text books out of sheer "humiliating rout" in the state in the recent Lok Sabha elections.

"Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay is among the great personalities whose contribution to democracy will continue to impact future generations. The government's decision is absurd and uncalled for," he said.

Devnani had also cornered the state government earlier for dubbing Veer Savarkar as 'Son of Portugal' in class 10th social science text book, saying that even erstwhile Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had called Savarkar "a classical revolutionary".

"Former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi recognised and hailed the legacy of great freedom fighter Veer Savarkar. The then government had issued a commemorative stamp on Veer Savarkar in 1970," he had said.

The Gehlot government has approved of the Veer Savarkar description as son of Portugal, contending that it was done on the recommendation of a panel of academicians.

The scholarship test that had Deendayal's name earlier is conducted for students of class 10th and 12th and the successful ones in the test are awarded scholarships by the Rajasthan Secondary Education Department.

(With PTI inputs)