New York, New York, September 15, 2002: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has hailed the verdict of the Supreme Court that the BJP-led NDA government was not “saffronising” education and said it was good the matter came up in the apex court. “Saffronizing” is a term used in a negative sense by the Indian press to mean changing or adapting something to match the views and teachings of Hindus in general or the RSS in particular. Vajpayee said ever since his government came to power, allegations were being levelled against his government that it was “saffronising” education. “It was good that the matter came up in the Supreme Court which turned down the plea that the education was being saffronised,” Vajpayee said at a function organized by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in memory of Swami Vivekananda. The Supreme Court had on September 12 upheld the National Curriculum Framework for Secondary education (NCFSE) rejecting the contention that it was an attempt to saffronise education. In the context of saffronisation of education, Vajpayee in a lighter vein wondered what was wrong with this. “If saffronisation is taking place, what is wrong in it,” he said amid laughter. Vajpayee went on to say “Bhagwa (Saffron) is a good color and it is associated with the battlefields for ages. The color has a long history.” The Prime Minister said people in India must be made aware of the country’s rich cultural heritage.
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