CPI(M) seeks mollify CPI over ‘surreptitious signing’ of ‘anti-federal and NEP-linked’ PM SHRI scheme

The CPI(M)] State secretariat apparently sought to ease tensions with the CPI, a key Left Democratic Front (LDF) ally, which had openly criticised the government for “surreptitiously” signing the “anti-federal and reactionary” PM SHRI project ostensibly to secure an estimated ₹1,446 crore central grant for school education without consultations in the ruling front or the Cabinet.

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan signalled at a press conference that the CPI could rest assured that the government would reject the Centre’s rider linking the release of federal grants for school education to the RSS’s “majoritarian nationalism inspired” National Education Policy (NEP), one of the so-called pillars of the PM SHRI and SSA schemes.

“The State needs the money without compromising on NEP. The LDF does not accept the improbable conditions that come with it. The CPI(M) and the CPI are on the same page concerning rejection of the Sangh Parivar agenda to centralise school education and imbue it with majoritarian nationalism, which denies the country’s linguistic, ethnic, cultural and religious diversities and seeks to enshrine a history and science denying one-size-fits-all academic template,” he said.

Mr. Govindan appeared keen to mollify an indignant CPI by stating that signing the PM SHRI MoU did not preclude further debate on the subject in the LDF or the Cabinet. “There is no dispute the LDF cannot solve via consensus,” he added.

Mr. Vijayan stated that Kerala had accepted federal grants owed to the State in the housing, health, and agricultural sectors, without complying with the “big brother” conditions imposed by the Centre to favour the NDA politically.

“Centre’s writ concerning PM SHRI and other central schemes won’t run in Kerala. The State’s socio-political climate is not conducive to such politically primed decrees from the Centre,” he added. 

However, Mr. Govindan stated, Kerala could ill-afford to lose what the Centre rightfully owed the State. “It is not a question of capitulating to the Centre. Signing the PM SHRI MoU is the first step to secure federal educational grants, the Centre owed the State constitutionally,” he added.

Mr. Govindan said that setting political conditions for the release of statutory federal grants to States was Congress’s legacy. “The first Five Year Plan under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru released funds the Centre owed to the States unconditionally. Later, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi threw the Nehruvian principle to the wind,” he said.

Mr. Govindan said the Congress had no moral right to gripe about seeking PM SHRI funds. “Congress governments in Rajasthan, Karnataka and Telangana had enrolled themselves in the scheme to safeguard the interests of their respective States,” he said.