DEHRADUN: Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday asked the people to give up their “colonial mindset” and said there was nothing wrong with saffronising education.
Inaugurating the South Asian Institute of Peace and Reconciliation at the Dev Sanskriti Vishwa Vidyalaya in Haridwar, Naidu said: “We are accused of saffronising education, but then what is wrong with saffron? I don’t understand.”
“We should really first learn our languages then learn other languages. We are not against outside knowledge. Whatever knowledge is available outside we must breathe and understand. First, breathe in the mother tongue, then learn other languages,” Naidu said.
He called for total rejection of the Macaulay system of education in the 75th year of Independence, saying it imposed a foreign language as the medium of education in the country and confined education to the elite. “Centuries of colonial rule taught us to look upon ourselves as an inferior race. We were taught to despise our own culture, traditional wisdom. This slowed our growth as a nation. The imposition of a foreign language as our medium of education confined education to a small section of the society,” Naidu said.
“We should feel proud of our heritage, our culture, our forefathers. We must go back to our roots. We must give up our colonial mindset and teach our children to take pride in their Indian identity. We must learn as many Indian languages as possible. We must love our mother tongue. We must learn Sanskrit to know our scriptures, which are a treasure trove of knowledge,” the Vice President said.
Naidu’s comments come days after the BJP-ruled Gujarat government issued a circular to include Bhagavad Gita in the syllabus of Class VI-XII, kicking up controversy.