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HRD minister feels sorry for those who opposed Saraswati Vandana

Union Human Resource Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi has denied the charge that the government was trying to 'rewrite history' and reiterated that the boycott of the Saraswati Vandana by some education ministers at the recent state education ministers' conference was 'uncalled for'.

In an interview to a private television channel, he said it was 'absolutely wrong' to say that the government was introducing changes in textbooks with the aim of 'rewriting history'.

Dr Joshi said he felt sorry for those who opposed the invocation of the Saraswati Vandana at the inaugural ceremony of the education ministers' conference on Thursday.

He said the government supported the need for spiritualism in education. In this connection, he pointed out that even the UNESCO, in its declaration passed at the recent world conference on higher education in Paris, had stressed the need for spiritualism in education.

The minister said his idea of 'Indianising' education meant making education relevant to the needs of the country.

Asked if he supported the proposal about house keeping for girls made in one of the controversial annexures attached with the official agenda for the conference, Dr Joshi, ''I don't support anything beyond the national agenda for governance.''

He strongly countered the charge that he had packed the Indian Council for Historical Research with RSS sympathisers. All the 18 persons nominated to the ICHR were historians of eminence in their own right, he added.

Dr Joshi wondered why this charge was being labelled against the BJP. ''When a supporter of Marxism is appointed, nobody says anything... When a Congress supporter is nominated, nobody says anything.''

UNI

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