The Congress on Wednesday targeted the RSS, saying the pillars of the 2020 National Education Policy (NEP), which it dubbed the "Nagpur Education Policy", had been shaken, the National Testing Agency (NTA) had been "discredited", and the education minister who had "forcibly" pushed states to implement it has been "compelled" to resign.
The party's remarks came on the sixth anniversary of the adoption of the National Education Policy on 29 July 2020.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the NEP was neither discussed in Parliament nor approved by the Central Advisory Board of Education.
"Today is the sixth anniversary of the Modi Government's adoption of the NEP - Nagpur Education Policy - on July 29th, 2020. The NEP 2020 was never discussed in Parliament and not cleared by the Central Advisory Board of Education," Ramesh said in a post on X.
The opposition party has alleged that the NEP was aimed at saffronising the education system at the behest of the RSS.
"Today the pillars of the NEP have been shaken. The NTA has been thoroughly discredited. The ex-Mantri Pradhan who was its greatest salesman and who forcibly pushed the state governments to implement the NEP has been compelled to resign," he also said.
Referring to the 'Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan', Ramesh claimed it had been referred to a Joint Committee of Parliament that was in "deep freeze", with at least two meetings in the past three weeks having been cancelled following opposition from NDA allies.
"In contrast to the Nagpur Education Policy, the NEP of 1986 under the Rajiv Gandhi Government was discussed in Parliament extensively before being adopted," Ramesh claimed in his post.
"One of its distinguishing achievements was the establishment of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas which have served as engines of socioeconomic mobility since their inception," he added.