Centre wants to create patriotic mood on Independence Day; Mamata says no

Ahead of 70thIndependence Day, the Centre has written to states to organise events in schools towards creating a "patriotic mood" and a "mass fervour" to help realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘New India’ vision.

However, West Bengal had instructed its schools to desist from following the Centre’s circular, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar said, terming the decision of the Trinamool Congress government "unfortunate".

Javadekar told reporters, the instructions, such as administering of the prime minister's Sankalp Siddhi oath or commemorating the martyrs of freedom struggle or "various wars/terrorist actions", are not binding on the schools and were part of a "secular agenda". "It is desirable that this momentous occasion should be celebrated with an objective to create a festive and patriotic mood across the nation and a movement is created to involve every citizen of this country in the mission of realising the vision of a new India, which is clean and free from poverty, corruption, terrorism, communalism and casteism," Maneesh Garg, joint secretary, ministry of human resource department, had written to the states.

In the letter, Garg also requested the states to publicise the events held between August 9 and 30 to help create a mass fervour in favour of the mission. It said apart from administering oath, the schools, including those affiliated to the CBSE, may be asked to organise quiz competitions on the struggle for Independence and the country’s development and painting competitions on the same theme. The quiz could be downloaded from the Narendra Modi App or the government's official portal, it said. Javadekar shared a copy of the memo issued by the State Project Director of the West Bengal Sarva Shiksha Mission, which says that it has been decided by the school education department that Independence Day will not be celebrated in line with the Centre's circular.

"The language used in the West Bengal government's memo is strange and unfortunate. I will talk to them. What we have proposed is a secular agenda, not a political party agenda," he said.

In a fresh confrontion with the central government, the West Bengal government issued "urgent" instructions to all schools and other educational institutions to "stop all preparations" for celebrating Independence Day 2017 in a format prescribed by the Union HRD Ministry.

The Mamata Banerjee government's response to the circular issued by the Human Resource Development Ministry came in the form of a directive to all District Project Officers in-charge of the Sarva Shikha Mission in the state.

Virtually negating the Union ministry circular for celebrating the 70th year of India'sIndependence Daywith certain "additional participatory activities in schools and colleges", the state government directive issued on on August 11 noted: "It has been decided by the School Education Department that Independence Day 2017 will not be celebrated in this manner" and asked schools to carry on with their usual mode of celebrating the occasion like every year.

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