Image Courtesy:economictimes.indiatimes.com
Yoga teacher, businessman, televangelist, author Ramdev has a rather heavy bio-data but it still pales in comparison to that of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Adityanath, who heads both a religious congregation, as well as a state. Now the two saffron-clad men, will also be known as philosophers, the study of whose thoughts will be included in the philosophy syllabus at the state government-run Chaudhary Charan Singh University.
The university, once known as Meerut university, will include books by Ramdev and Adityanath following a recommendation from the Uttar Pradesh government, reported The Telegraph. Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel is its Chancellor and Prof. Narendra Kumar Taneja is the vice-chancellor. The university on its website describes its vision thus:
“To produce such professionals who have global competence, vision, and skills as are necessary to meet the challenges of emerging global knowledge economy, by the power of innovation, creativity and efficient learning ability.”
Now, as reported by The Telegraph, the students reading philosophy at the university will have to study by Ramdev and Adityanath as well. According to the news report the addition to the philosophy syllabus has been recommended by the Uttar Pradesh government. A quick internet search reveals that the two men have, to their credit, books mainly on Yoga. And according to the news report, the books that have made it to the philosophy syllabus include: Ramdev’s ‘Yoga Chikitsa Rahasya’, which reportedly ‘deals with yoga’s proficiency in curing illnesses’. The other book is Hathyoga: Swaroop evam Sadhana, authored by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath.
University authorities told the media that the recommendations to include these books had come last week. Patanjali boss Ramdev has been in the news for over a week now after he called allopathy a “stupid science” and was countered by The Indian Medical Association (IMA). The IMA filed a police complaint in Delhi and sought that an FIR be registered against Ramdev accusing him of “illegal and dishonest intention with a view of obtaining wrongful gain and consequently causing wrongful loss to the medical fraternity and general public in large”. The IMA stated that Ramdev “has committed cognizable offences and are liable to be prosecuted under all applicable and relevant provisions of the law, including Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act 1897.”
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Ajay Bisht alias Yogi Adityanath has been under fire for the spiraling Covid-19 situation in the state, and the shortage of oxygen which prompted the Allahabad High Court to observe that the death of Covid patients due to oxygen shortage was not less than genocide. The state has the highest percentage of rural population, with approximately over 15 crore people, constituting 18.62 percent of the country’s rural population, but has only 2,936 PHCs. The Allahabad High Court criticised the affidavit submitted by the government while noting that albeit the portal showed availability of vacant beds, no hospital could offer any, “This state of affairs that we have come to know about the management of online portal created by the Government today casts shadow upon the Covid Hospital Management,” opined the court. Then there are regular reports of communal attacks in the state by cow vigilantes, or even by police themselves.
But then this is not a deterrent to the committee that recommended the two be now considered philosophers and their books included in the philosophy syllabus. According to the TT report, Y. Vimala, pro-vice-chancellor of the university, said, “We didn’t take the decision on our own. We received a recommendation from the state government and included it in the undergraduate philosophy syllabus.” The report also quoted N.C. Lohani, Dean of Arts, who added that works by the two were added “keeping in view the need of the times.”
According to the news report, a few months ago, the university administration had its board painted saffron. A teacher at the university, who chose to remain anonymous, told the media that “asking people to practise yoga isn’t the same thing as forcing them to read the books of people with half-baked knowledge.” However, the news report added that the varsity academic panel also made sure that works by poets Bashir Badra and Kunwar Bechain of Meerut and Dushyant Kumar of Bijnore were also added to the list.
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