Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s Higher Education Minister, R Bindu, has issued a scathing condemnation of the participation of several university Vice Chancellors in the ‘Gyan Sabha’, an education conference organised by a group affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The event was held in Kochi on Sunday and inaugurated by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

In a strongly worded statement on Monday, Minister Bindu described the involvement of the academic leaders as a “disturbing alignment” with forces that, she said, aim to undermine Kerala’s progressive educational values.

She accused the Sangh Parivar of being “fundamentally opposed” to a modern, inclusive system of higher education and warned against any attempts to impose ideological control over universities.

“A modern higher education system that aligns with the needs of today's world is intolerable to the Sangh Parivar,” Bindu stated.

"The so-called 'Gyan Sabha' is part of a larger, deeply regressive effort to turn Kerala's knowledge-driven society back towards Brahminical domination. To ignore this agenda is to deny history itself," she said.

The Minister expressed particular concern over the participation of some Vice Chancellors from Kerala. Their presence, she argued, lent legitimacy to what she described as a “crude, anti-knowledge campaign” designed to erode academic freedom and stifle independent thought.

“It may be a matter of pride for the RSS that the minds of some Vice Chancellors--who are supposed to lead knowledge creation--have been turned into stables of anti-intellectualism. But for Kerala, it is a matter of deep shame,” she remarked.

Minister Bindu issued a warning that any attempts to transform inclusive academic institutions into ideological training centres for a Hindu Rashtra would not be tolerated.

“By colluding in the chaining of academic freedom and independent thinking to the saffron agenda, these Vice Chancellors will have to hang their heads in shame before Kerala’s academic community for a long time to come,” she said.

“The youth and the academic community will expose the Sangh Parivar's dangerous delusion that a crude army of ignorance can be built in Kerala. Enlightened by the true knowledge imparted by genuine teachers, the people of Kerala will cast into the dustbin the Sangh Parivar's schemes that treat the darkness of ignorance as something to be celebrated,” Bindu concluded.

 

 

PTI inputs