Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Monday cautioned that the country would face destruction if the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) were to take complete control of the education system.
Addressing a protest organised by student affiliates of the INDIA bloc against the National Education Policy (NEP) at Jantar Mantar, Gandhi spotlighted the bloc’s united stance on safeguarding the education system, despite internal ideological and policy differences.
"One organisation wants to destroy the future and the education system of the country. The name of that organisation is the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. If the education system goes into their hands, which is actually happening slowly, this country will be destroyed. No one will get jobs and the country will be finished," Gandhi asserted.
The former Congress president claimed that the RSS was increasingly influencing higher education, with its members occupying key academic positions.
"Student organisations must tell students that the vice chancellors of Indian universities are dominated by the RSS. In the coming time, state universities' VCs will be appointed on the recommendation of the RSS. We have to stop this," he stated.
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Drawing attention to recent remarks by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament, Gandhi criticised the PM for failing to address pressing economic concerns.
"The prime minister does not speak a word about unemployment, inflation and education system. Their model is to hand over all resources to Adani and Ambani and hand over institutions to the RSS," he alleged.
Gandhi urged student activists to resist the RSS’s growing influence over academic institutions, stressing that the INDIA bloc would stand united in this struggle.
"You are students of the INDIA bloc, there may be some differences in our ideologies and policies but we can never compromise on the education system of the country. We will fight this fight together and push back the RSS," he declared.
Last month, Gandhi had similarly protested against the draft University Grants Commission (UGC) regulations, contending that they were an attempt to impose the RSS’s ideological agenda.
He alleged that the draft regulations sought to push "one history, one tradition, one language" on the country, a move he described as detrimental to India’s pluralistic ethos.
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