Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 26 (PTI) Senior CPI leader K Prakash Babu said on Sunday that CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby didn’t give any reply except keeping silence on Kerala’s signing of the PM SHRI scheme during his recent discussion with D Raja in this regard.
He said though Raja, the CPI general secretary, came to meet Baby to discuss the matter, even skipping his lunch on Saturday, the Left leader didn’t reply on anything regarding the topic.
“Raja went to meet Baby to convey the party’s concerns on the PM SHRI and make its stand clear. It was actually the joint stand of the CPI and the CPI(M). He clearly made Baby understand how a deviation happened now on that stand,” Babu told reporters here.
Raja has sought to know whether Kerala could go for a legal fight against the central scheme like Tamil Nadu and requested Baby to ask CPI(M) state unit to review their decision to join the PM SHRI, Babu further said.
“However, silence was the only reply by Baby when Raja pointed out all issues with regard to the PM SHRI. It has pained me personally,” he said, adding that the veteran CPI(M) leader had conveyed his helplessness to intervene in it.
Babu said the state executive of the party would discuss the Kerala General Education Department’s signing of the PM SHRI scheme and decide future actions to be taken in this regard.
He said it was an issue that had come up before the Cabinet and as per the rules of business, only the Cabinet can dispose of a matter in its possession.
Speaking to reporters here, the leader said CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam has clearly stated the party’s stand and why it sticks to that.
Apparently rejecting the education department’s claims regarding dearth of funds for infrastructure development, Babu said the Pinarayi Vijayan government has already turned over 50,000 classrooms into smart classes.
“Kerala is a state which has made unique achievements, which no other state can claim in terms of infrastructure development in schools. So, there is no relevance in the things said about infrastructure development,” he said.
Stating that the curriculum is a matter of concern with regard to the PM SHRI scheme, he said the Centre had already made it clear that the state curriculum would be in accordance with the National Educational Policy (NEP) 2020.
When asked what would be the next step if the CPI(M) is not ready for a compromise in this regard, he said the state executive of the party will meet here on Monday.
“The state executive will discuss the matter on Monday and will tell the decision,” Babu added.
The senior CPI leader’s remarks came a day after General Education Minister V Sivankutty made it clear that signing the PM SHRI schools scheme MoU would not result in any change to the state’s curriculum, amid CPI opposition and Congress allegations of a “political conspiracy”.
Sivankutty, in a statement had said that former BJP state president K Surendran’s claim that RSS founder Keshav Baliram Hedgewar and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar would be included in Kerala’s curriculum was “false propaganda for political purposes.” He added that the state signed the PM SHRI MoU to secure funds for improving the physical infrastructure of schools and raising academic standards. PTI LGK KH
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.