BENGALURU: On the last day of the monsoon session, the assembly witnessed heated exchanges over the issue of the National Education Policy (NEP), which is being implemented in the state.
Congress alleged that NEP had been pushed by RSS, terming it “Nagpur Education Policy”.
Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai latched onto the comment, saying: “If the opposition wants to claim that NEP was the brainchild of RSS, then I am proud to admit it. It is a policy which is from Indians, by Indians and for Indians, unlike the foreign policy which Congress introduced in 1986.”
There were protests over the issue in the assembly, with the opposition benches contending that NEP had not been discussed in the House and the government was steamrollering it through.
“Let me tell this House that NEP is nothing more than a document which is being propagated by BJP nationwide to fulfil the RSS agenda. It is not NEP but, as our KPCC president DK Shivakumar had said previously, Nagpur Education Policy,” said Siddaramaiah, the opposition leader.
Congress legislators were already in the well of the House to register their protest over other issues and demand that the session be extended for another week. They alleged that NEP would destroy educational opportunities of disadvantaged groups, including SC/ST communities, and give emphasis to those from affluent families.
The claims triggered an uproar in the treasury benches. BJP accused Congress administrations of having pushed a foreign education policy in their 60 years of governance and added that at least NEP didn’t originate in Rome.
