The BJP has reacted sharply to Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s criticism of the National Educational Policy of the Narendra Modi government.

The ruling party’s general secretary, Tarun Chugh, asked Sonia to remove her “Italian spectacles”, responding to her piece in The Hindu criticising the NEP for “centralisation”, “commercialisation”, and “communalisation”.

Chugh posted videos of his statement on X in which he said: “For almost 60 years after independence, the Congress kept the country in a colonial mindset. Instead of telling the glorious history of the real heroes of India, the Congress promoted communalism, appeasement, and slavery of nepotism in books.”

He added: “Sonia Gandhiji, you must introspect before commenting on the RSS…. Only if you remove these Italian spectacles will you understand patriotism, Bharatiyata (Indian-ness), Indian institutions, voluntary organisations, and the ocean-like organisation of the RSS.”

Sonia’s article does not mention the RSS but highlights changes in the history curriculum and “nepotism” in appointments in top varsities.

The BJP has mined Sonia’s foreign lineage for maximum political mileage in almost every election.

According to Sonia, the core agenda of the NEP was centralisation of power, commercialisation and outsourcing of investments to the private sector, and communalisation of textbooks.

In the article — “The ‘3Cs’ that haunt Indian education today” — Sonia said the introduction of the NEP 2020 had hidden the reality of a government that was profoundly indifferent to the education of India’s children and youth.

“The Union Government’s track record over the last decade has convincingly demonstrated that in education, it is concerned only with the successful implementation of three core agenda items — the centralisation of power with the Union Government; the commercialisation and outsourcing of investments in education to the private sector, and the communalisation of textbooks, curriculum, and institutions,” she wrote.

Sonia claimed that “unchecked centralisation” had been the hallmark of the
Modi government’s functioning over the last 11 years, but its most damaging consequences had been in the domain of education.

Congress ally DMK is trying to unite non-Hindi-speaking states over the alleged imposition of Hindi by the NEP.

Backing Sonia, former DMK MP T.K.S. Elangovan said: “The education system in Tamil Nadu is the best in India. But they want to kill this and introduce a Vedic system of education without any scientific base. They want the people of India to remain as shudras. That is the idea of the RSS, which this BJP government is following. Language is a secondary thing. They are violating the principles of the Constitution.”

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis told reporters that the NEP was the “Indianisation of the education system”.

“If the education policy that Macaulay brought to enslave our country is replaced, any patriot will support it. Sonia Gandhi should know more about it and support the Indianisation of the Indian education system,” he said.

Asked about Sonia’s article, BJP spokesman Syed Shahnawaz Hussain said: “She prefers an education policy that provokes people. It is unfortunate that she is questioning India’s education policy.”