Rajasthan Congress President Govind Singh Dotasra.
Credit: X/@GovindDotasra
Jaipur: Rajasthan government schools will celebrate the abrogation of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir on August 5 as Swarn Mukut Mastak Day, according to the academic calendar released for the year 2024-25 by the state’s education department.
Rajasthan’s school academic calendar, known as Rajasthan Shivira Panchang, was released on Sunday after a delay. It mentions Aug 5 as Swarn Mukut Mastak (Golden Crown head) Day, the day on which Article 370 was abrogated in Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2019.
It also mentions the celebration of Feb 4 as Surya Namaskar Day, Feb 7 as Chhatrapati Shivaji Jayanti, February 14 as Mother-Father day and January 23 as Subash Chandra Bose’s birthday. It also mentions the birthday of Veer Savarkar on May 28, although schools remain closed during that period due to summer vacations. Schools are already celebrating the birthday of Rajasthan’s great warrior Maharana Pratap as Pratap Jayanti.
The calendar also mentions ‘No Bag Day’ on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month.
However, a political war of words has ensued following the release of the schedule, with Congress state president Govind Singh Dotasra, criticising the move. He said it is only to further their narrow political agendas. Dotasra said :“The Congress opposes this politicisation of education and the imposition of its divisive ideology on students.”
Congress’s spokesman Swarnim Chaturvedi has also called out the academic calendar, saying it has been set only to promote the Hindutva ideology. He is of the view that educational efforts should concentrate on enhancing the academic content rather than eulogising figures like Savarkar, who is said to have sought forgiveness from the British.
BJP, has however, defended its move of celebrating such days, saying that past representations have unfairly idolised Akbar as Great and misinterpreted Savarkar’s role in the Independence movement.
State education minister, Madan Dilawar, who is from the RSS background, was slammed by Muslim organisations when he made Surya Namaskar mandatory in schools after taking over.
In another recent controversy, Dilawar had to apologise and asked for forgiveness from tribals in the Assembly. He had mocked the newly elected MP from Banswara, Rajkumar Roat, after he had said in an interview that tribals were distinct from Hindus as they followed different rituals, culture and traditions and followed a belief that is different from Hinduism.
Reacting to it, Dilawar had said that if Bharat Adivasi Party (BAP) leader does not consider himself Hindu, a DNA test should be done to verify whether he is actually the son of a Hindu. This had angered the tribals, who protested, saying they were ready to offer their blood samples to the minister to get them tested.