In yet another controversial move to “instil nationalism” among India’s youths, Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani has now decided to rope in the Indian Army to teach patriotism in the universities controlled by the government.
The decision comes close on the heels of the government’s directive to all the 46 central universities to hoist the tricolour of a specific dimension at a particular height on campuses to make patriots out of students.
All the central universities will fly the national flag on their campuses to signify a “strong India”, said a resolution adopted at a meeting of vice chancellors chaired by HRD Minister Smriti Irani last month.
It was decided that the first flag will be hoisted at the restive Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), which is in the eye of a massive storm over a controversial event in the memory of Afzal Guru and the subsequent arrest of JNU students union president Kanhaiya Kumar and others for sedition.
Irani had called the meeting of the vice-chancellors of the central universities following the widespread protest over the suicide of Dalit scholar of Hyderabad University Rohith Vemula.
The decision had also came following the row over Kanhaiya’s arrest on February 12 for allegedly raising anti-national slogans at the Afzal Guru event on February 9.
Meanwhile, the JNU students are holding a protest march today from Mandi House to Parliament in central Delhi to demand the release of Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, also arrested for organising the same event.
