After compulsory flags diktat, Smriti Irani plans to rope in Army veterans to instil nationalism in school kids!

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani plans to make Army veterans encourage school children to become mentally and physically fit and develop respect for the Indian Army. Congress dubbed the move as a dubious one.

New Delhi, March 15: After the Union Human Resource Development ‘s diktat declared that all Central Universities across the country, it now plans to rope in ex-Army personnel to instil ‘nationalistic values’ and ‘inspire’ young people. According to media reports on Tuesday, Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani is planning to have veterans of the Indian Army visit schools and inspire children by encouraging them to become more physically and mentally fit.

According to reports, the Ministry plans to do that by having Army veterans guide kids towards mental and physical fitness as well as narrate stories of valour and courage of the Army, especially in the disturbed areas of the North east and Kashmir. Reacting to the reports, Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan told India Today, “This move by the HRD Ministry needs to be examined closely, because the person who heads this ministry has very strange ideas about education.”  Also Read: National flag hoisting diktat: Jadavpur University’s Prof Iman Kalyan Lahiri slams move

Taking a jibe at the move, Vadaakan said that we need to examine the move academically and also ask ourselves if it puts a question mark on the credentials of our teachers. He said that even he believed that children need to know about stories of valour of the Indian Army, but for the our teachers are enough. He said that the move might question of our teachers are incapable of inculcating values of nationalism in our kids and whether our teachers do not understand nationalism adequately.

Hitting back at Vaddakan, Nalin Kohli of the BJP said that Congress was just criticising for the sake of criticising. He said that the Opposition party has confused stand on this matter and the Ministry is not going to function according to what one spokesperson of the Congress says. On the matter of having ex-Army men for instilling nationalism in kids, Kohli said, Why not? They should be able to inspire young people. We have all grown up to respect the Armed forces and what they stand for and their uniform and I don’t see anything wrong with this.