RSS Plan: Kharge demands roll back of handing over of Sainik Schools to private parties, writes to President Murmu

The senior Congress leader demanded a full reversal of the policy and the cancellation of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) associated with it.

He alleged that out of the 40 MoUs that have been signed, 62% have been signed with individuals & organizations belonging to the RSS-BJP-Sangh Parivar. This includes a Chief Minister’s family, several MLAs, BJP office-bearers and RSS leaders.

“The union government has broken this well enshrined convention. Having undermined institutions after institutions, in the grand plan of RSS to hurriedly thrust its ideology, they have dealt a body blow to the very nature and ethos of the Armed Forces. Imparting ideologically slanted knowledge in such institutions shall not only destroy inclusiveness but also damage the national character of the Sainik Schools, by influencing their character through partisan religious/corporate/family/social/cultural credos”,he wrote.

Kharge brought to President Murmu's notice an investigative report based on an RTI reply, which claimed that Sainik Schools are being privatised using a new PPP model introduced by the government, and "now 62 per cent of these schools are said to be owned by the BJP-RSS leaders".

"This is a blatant step to politicise the independent Sainik Schools - a preparatory platform which plays a leading role in sending cadets to the National Defence Academy (NDA) and Indian Naval Academy. Sainik Schools were established by India's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961 and they have been the beacon of military leadership and excellence since then," Kharge mentioned in the letter.

Kharge said there are 33 Sainik Schools in the country and they were fully government-funded institutions operated under the aegis of the Sainik Schools Society (SSS), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Defence (MoD).