Karnataka: Congress leader seeks to include Bhagavad Gita in school syllabus

The Bhagavad Gita has become the latest talking point for the BJP as well as the Congress in Karnataka, with both parties looking to score brownie points.

The discussion was triggered when the Gujarat government announced last week that it would introduce the scriptural text, which is a part of the epic Mahabharata, into its Class 6-12 syllabus

Since then, BJP as well as Congress leaders in Karnataka have been tripping over themselves to declare their affinity for the Bhagavad Gita — despite the fact that an official plan to introduce the text into the state’s schools is nowhere in sight.

While BJP heavyweights such as Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi rushed to applaud Karnataka’s decision to follow Gujarat’s lead, the Congress seized the opportunity to take credit for mainstreaming the Hindu epics.

“We are Hindus too. Leave alone Karnataka, Rajiv Gandhi as Prime Minister laid the foundation for Ramayana and Mahabharata to be mainstream across the country — for people of all ages and not just school children,” D.K. Shivakumar, president, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), told a press gathering Sunday.

This was a reference to the TV programme Ramayana, which was initially broadcast on Doordarshan when the Congress was in power. Shivakumar quickly followed up his remark with a tweet.

The Congress’ eagerness to demonstrate its affinity for Hindu epics comes at a time when the party in Karnataka is debating Hinduism vs Hindutva ahead of the state’s 2023 assembly election, even as the BJP accuses it of being “anti-Hindu” on social media at every turn, ranging from the hijab row to the anti-conversion bill to the anti-cattle slaughter law.