People's Democracy

THE UGC advertisement in the Employment News (August 11, 2001) for recruitment of teachers for ‘Spoken Sanskrit’ in the various universities has, understandably, created a lot of controversy and protest within the academic community and concerned citizens. The criticism has centred on the breach of autonomy of universities that an advertisement for direct recruitment by the UGC would entail. The UGC move needs to be opposed for political reasons, and for the serious consequences that would come about from an influx of RSS cadres into the universities.

Never before has the University Grants Commission stepped in so directly, so forcefully, and in violation of rules and convention, to implement a government agenda--in this case a communal and sectarian agenda, opposed to the very spirit of education and learning.

The matter needs to be looked at in the larger perspective of what is going on in the academic world in line with the political developments of the last three years that have impinged on educational policy. The takeover of the UGC, along with many other institutions and academic bodies, has resulted in changed priorities for these institutions. The UGC has totally surrendered its autonomy to the BJP government. The revamped UGC, with Hari Gautam, a known RSS sympathizer as Chairperson, and many other officials of the same breed, is committed to implement the RSS policy on education and culture.

The advertisement for recruitment of Sanskrit teachers is in line with the introduction of the courses of Vedic astrology, karmakand and yogic consciousness. Let us not be under the illusion that spoken Sanskrit is going to mean innocent conversation classes, devoid of RSS propaganda. They will essentially be RSS study circles/ classes, no less. Spoken Sanskrit, along with the other saffron courses initiated by the government, is nothing but a ploy to facilitate the mass entry and intervention of RSS cadres into academic institutions, particularly universities, where a very large body of young people and teachers converge.

It does not need much intelligence to comprehend that students who enroll for courses such as Vedic astrology and karmakand will logically be those already inclined towards a conservative and irrational world view and are not likely to need a great push to be transformed into committed cadre through courses designed to promote superstition and chauvinism. Committed teachers, recruited for this purpose, will be committed pracharaks in the form of astrology teachers or spoken Sanskrit teachers. They will play a specific role in university administration and teachers politics.

The purpose of education is inculcation of critical reason and spirit of free enquiry. Astrology and karmakand by their very nature eliminate all questioning by a student, while the overwhelming literature in Sanskrit being promoted as part of Indian culture by the Sangh Parivar and by official Sanskrit lobbies is Brahmanical in content. More than in the case of Hindi syllabi, this is a subject that has long been not revised, is least open to scrutiny by a larger audience and academic bodies, and is least likely to undergo any worthwhile revision. To a Sangh Parivar, out to promote the concept of one nation as equivalent to one language and one culture, the cause of Sanskrit is a godsend. It has no decriers in the South like Hindi does, it appears neutral and above the language controversies of the day, has potential for rallying the large multi-lingual NRI component which thinks the more ancient one gets the more Indian one gets as well. It is a language that has the potential of uniting the entire spectrum of Brahmanical, upper-caste elite, which is the clientele of the Sangh Parivar, against the components of our Persian and Arabic heritage and composite culture. And, finally it is the dearest dream of the RSS that Sanskrit be presented as language of the ‘masses’ of Indians, the conveyor belt and originator of Indian culture, in its new archaeological ‘findings’ even identified with ‘Indus-Saraswati’ culture-no matter that women and members of lower castes have been denied access to the religious texts and rituals.

The eulogies paid to the language as mother of all languages, the root of Indian culture, the language best suited to computers and the future for information technology by the UGC and the National Framework for Curriculum document serve both ideological and practical ends. It is unlikely that the content of readings will have much to offer beyond religion, if the language is linked to the ancient great past, Sanskrit in the tradition promoted by the Parivar being primarily a language whose literature is couched in religious garb and where thought has not transcended religious philosophy. The Sangh Parivar has in any case suppressed the questionings of worldviews in this tradition. Much as it talks of the neglect of Aryabhatta, in its political iconography it is the Upanishads that contain the ultimate truth in mathematics, the Vedas that epitomize the world achievements in science and so on.

In more practical terms, it is unlikely that students or teachers for the entire gamut of saffron courses is going to come from the backward castes, dalits, women or religious minorities. Even if a farce of reservation is maintained, and the course justified by a peculiar logic, as it has already been done by the UGC chairperson, that these courses are open to all without discrimination and that this is a radical step, no individual outside the upper caste bold enough to undertake these courses, will be able to utilize them for his/her livelihood even having scored high grades!

These recruitments are efforts to mobilize and open avenues for small town upper castes of middle class and lower middle class, sons of those involved in Brahmanical religion and rituals as livelihood, who have been left behind in the modern race for business management, multinationals, information technology and the like, and to create a semblance of their relevance to the ‘demand’ for ‘pandits’ among NRIs abroad, and the hunger for roots and learning Sanskrit among the young there. This is a good example of the links between Hindutva and liberalization, besides an avenue to create conclaves of Hindutva and political irrationalism in centres of learning.

It needs to be emphasised that training in karmakand, astrology and spoken Sanskrit as language of religion already have a self-sustaining system that has operated parallel with the government funded and affiliated educational system, and they are thriving as private enterprises. At juncture when the government is actually promoting privatisation of education and self financing courses, there is absolutely no justification for bringing these saffron courses within the ambit of state funded activities, and through public funds mobilized by the state, except that it suits the Hindutva agenda of the BJP government. A resource strapped government, which has left general science education, libraries, laboratories, social sciences and humanities languishing has made its priorities clear through earmarking Rs 20 crore for promotion of Sanskrit, and huge amounts for faculties and new departments of Vedic astrology and karmakand. The breaching of the university autonomy to push through the spoken Sanskrit course must be seen primarily in this context.

The actual advertisement by the UGC, directly, and not by universities, tells its own story of who will come in as teachers and how the UGC is going to brook no interference in this matter. The UGC is creating "Simple Sanskrit Centres" at "Selected Universities and Colleges", without consultation or approval of any university, and outside the fold of the Sanskrit departments of the universities, which have been given no say in the matter. The minimum qualification for teachers in all language departments that conduct certificate courses is same as for other teaching posts, i.e., MA and PHD. In this case it is enough if the candidate is a graduate in any subject, he/she need not even have a formal certificate in Sanskrit. It is enough if he/she has proficiency in speaking Sanskrit, which too, interestingly, the UGC is going to test without an interview on the basis of written, or e-mail applications! The applications are to be addressed directly to Secretary himself of the UGC, and let us note, there is no mention of any reservation in these teaching posts, which is a clear violation of the Constitution by the very body that is supposed to ensure that all norms are adhered to. No mention that these appointments, as is mandatory, will be placed for approval to the college governing bodies, or academic and executive councils of the universities, or even that the respective Sanskrit departments of the universities concerned will be involved in the process.

Spoken Sanskrit classes have been organised systematically by the Sanskrit Bharti, an RSS affiliate, in the last three years in various colleges and universities, where students, teachers, and other professionals have been ‘taught’ spoken Sanskrit and given ‘certificates’ at the end of six weeks. The new recruitment will facilitate the institutionalization of these RSS networks and their funding through government resources. Ruppees two lakhs per year per institution is the investment on just spoken Sanskrit, and nothing for other languages.

The ham handed method adopted is matter of style, and the authoritarian manner only shows the desperation and determination of the government to create RSS bases and networks within the educational system that will outlast the government itself, as experience of similar moves during the tenure of Advani as information and broadcasting minister come to mind. The UGC must be resisted in its efforts to supplement RSS shakhas on campuses with RSS study circles, and teacher-pracharak recruits.