PM lays stone of Savarkar college, Cong terms it ‘polarisation’ bid

PM Narendra Modi on Friday virtually laid the foundation stones for two new Delhi University campuses — East and West campuses — and a college named after BJP ideologue Veer Savarkar. The project, with an investment of over Rs 600 crore, aims to boost educational opportunities and modernise facilities.

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However, the Savarkar college has also sparked a political row, as the Congress slammed the saffron party of ‘polarising’ Delhi voters.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said, “Savarkarji had no major contribution around Delhi. As the Assembly poll are around the corner; they (are) attempting to polarise voters,” he said.

Another Congress leader, Naseer Hussain, had said, “Many people lived for the country and contributed to the freedom struggle. But the BJP is giving legitimacy to those who wrote mercy petitions to the British and took pensions from them.” The NSUI had urged the PM to name the college after Manmohan Singh, instead of Savarkar.

Meanwhile, the PM accused AAP of mismanaging central grants meant for education sector. The current government of Delhi has not spent even half of the money – which the Centre had given to Delhi — on education, he said.

Addressing a public meeting at Ramlila Ground, the PM said the Centre’s focus was on improving access to quality education and opportunities for all, while the AAP government had damaged the school education system.

The PM also hailed the National Education Policy for emphasising on teaching in mother tongue to ensure children from all backgrounds have the opportunity to succeed. He further said the DU’s reputation was continuously growing in the field of higher education. “The long-awaited East and West campuses will be developed in Surajmal Vihar and Dwarka, respectively. The East campus will offer LLB, LLM and LLB programme, along with other multidisciplinary courses,” he said.

He acknowledged the crucial role of the CBSE in improving education system. He announced the construction of a new CBSE building to support the expansion of modern educational practices.

(With inputs from Agencies)