Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday addressed a letter to President Droupadi Murmu, expressing strong opposition to the Centre's decision to "privatise" Sainik schools across the nation. The senior Congress leader demanded a full reversal of the policy and the cancellation of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) associated with it.
What Kharge mentioned in letter?
In his two-page letter, Kharge emphasized the longstanding tradition in Indian democracy of keeping the armed forces separate from partisan politics, accusing the central government of violating this principle. "Having undermined institutions after institutions, in the grand plan of RSS to hurriedly thrust its ideology, they have dealt a body blow to the very nature and ethos of the Armed Forces. Imparting ideologically slanted knowledge in such institutions shall not only destroy inclusiveness but also damage the national character of the Sainik Schools, by influencing their character through partisan religious/corporate/family/social/cultural credos," he wrote.
"Therefore, in the national interest, the Indian National Congress demands the complete rollback of this privatisation policy and annulment of these MoUs, so that children studying at Armed Forces Schools retain the desired character, vision and honour required for the service of the nation," Kharge added.
Kharge mentions investigative report based on RTI reply
Kharge brought to President Murmu's notice an investigative report based on an RTI reply, which claimed that Sainik Schools are being privatised using a new PPP model introduced by the government, and "now 62 per cent of these schools are said to be owned by the BJP-RSS leaders".
"This is a blatant step to politicise the independent Sainik Schools - a preparatory platform which plays a leading role in sending cadets to the National Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Naval Academy. Sainik Schools were established by India's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961 and they have been the beacon of military leadership and excellence since then," Kharge mentioned in the letter.
Kharge said there are 33 Sainik Schools in the country and they were fully government-funded institutions operated under the aegis of the Sainik Schools Society (SSS), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
ALSO READ: Sainik School Counselling 2024: Round 1 allotment result out for class 6 and 9, check documents list
